Drowning
by LuxKaneva
Summary: Clary is the nation's junior swimming champ. Undefeated. But, why, oh why, does the new golden haired boy make her feel like she's drowning? Please review! Really fun, not a very heavy story. Thank You!
1. Love at First Sight ,Or Not

_**DROWNING**_

_**Quick Author's Note Please Read**_**: This is important guys so don't skip it. Oh I know how tempting it is to skim over to the story but please don't. Thanks to those who are reading this. Ok, I have decided to not continue my old story New Life, New Love because it is going to nowhere and I was planning on a happy ending anyway. Please don't hate me. My old name was Wolfstorm77 but I am getting a new account because Wolfstorm77 is a really stupid name. My old story was just a little quick thing that I didn't really spend time on. I plan on writing a better story with more detail in this one. Thanks for your support! Reviews would be nice .**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill. I'm not Cassandra Clare and I do not own The Mortal Instruments blah blah.**

**REMEMBER: ALL HUMAN oh hey. Does anyone mind telling me what the heck AU means? I have no idea. Thanks a million!**

Clary P.O.V.

I glanced at the red zone coming into view from the corner of my eye through my goggles. That was my cue. I remember my coach repeating these words…_you see red and you swim like all hell is breaking loose. Okay? Okay._ So that's what I did. I swam like all hell was indeed breaking loose. Now I know what you're thinking…adrenaline rush and swimming faster than ever before, but no. This was nothing like that because I'm not really at a swim meet. I'm at swim practice.

I flipped to the side and slammed my palm against the wall. My practice was done. Finally. I ripped off wretched swim cap that always clung to my hair and pulled a couple strands out sometimes too. F you.

"Well done Clary, I think you're already ready for next month's meet in Sydney. You're gonna cream them," my coach praised me. I nodded, smirking. Already ready? And that was just practice. Being on the USA Junior Swim Team was hard work, but I was a natural in the water. I couldn't wait for our next meet in Australia!

Grabbing my towel off the rack, I went to hit the showers. Being on the team had its privileges and the showers were one of them. I quickly rinsed out my hair and got into the casual summer dress I had gotten at a flea market while in Alaska for a meet. My hair wasn't wild and frizzy but actually came down nicely in tame, mild waves. It was wet right now so I left in hanging just below my shoulders. It looked good. I slipped on my beaded and leather bracelets and brown leather lace up boots. I loved the whole vintage look and carried around many worn down but loved items with me everywhere.

Slinging my brown messenger over my shoulder I walked out of the gym and felt something wet drop onto my arm. At first I thought it was my hair dripping but I soon realized it was raining. Shit. I picked up my pace to a speed walk and turned the corner. Everything in New York City was so close you could just walk everywhere. Soon I came in front of and old looking book shop and entered. I loved snuggling in the giant comfy chairs and reading here for hours. Especially on rainy days.

A man with gray hair looked up at me from the desk. "Oh, hey Clary, back again. Maia's behind the fiction isle. She's waiting for you." He smiled at me warmly.

"Thanks, Luke," I said, returning the smile. I went behind the fiction shelves and saw a girl with bronze skin and dark brown hair with her nose buried in a book. "Hey Melody," I teased.

"Hey Ariel," she teased back. We had adopted these names from when I started swim team. She called me Ariel because of my red hair and how much time I spent in the water. Classic.

I heard the small chime of the bell above the door sound again and the shuffle of someone else coming inside the store before I opened my mouth to reply to her. But then I stopped. Rarely someone came to Luke's old bookstore. By rarely, I meant rarely. I looked at Maia with a quizzical look and she returned one. We both turned back from behind the shelves to see who it was.

"Holy hot tamale…daaaamn," I heard Maia mutter softly into my ear. I turned my gaze to the direction she was looking in. I couldn't have said it better myself. Standing there, talking to Luke, was the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen in my life. No joke.

He had curly blond hair that spilled across his forehead in a golden halo. His body was tall, lean and tan. Hmm. He looked like a swimmer too. His eyes were like a pool of molten…gold? Who in the world has golden eyes? Okay that just made him look like a god. A freaking shmexy Greek God. My heart raced; damn this guy was beyond hot.

I caught Luke saying my name and pointing in my direction. Oh no…no no no no. I had a horrible time speaking to hot guys…especially THIS one. I always ended up stuttering and embarrassing the hell out of myself. Shit. Shit. Shit.

They guy smiled a smile that would have made any girl pass out and made his way over to where me and Maia were standing. "This is my cue to go," Maia said. She had the same problem as me.

"What? Stay!" I hissed into her ear.

"Sorry, hun. Luke said you're name, not mine," With that she stalked off behind some other shelves leaving me alone to talk to this boy. He came closer making my heart race faster than before.

"Hey," he said in a smooth voice like velvet. I almost squealed. Man up, Clary.

"Hi," I half gushed, half breathed. How the hell was I going to get through this already increasingly awkward conversation?


	2. Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover

**Shout out to MIgirl923 my first reviewer! Thank you, I love reviews and they make me update faster. Yeah my last story got like no reviews so I stopped writing it. Boo hoo. AU means another universe…thank you grl, cuz I had my finger scratching my head for a while on that one. Here's the second chapter my darlings…enjoy!**

**IMPORTANT: I changed Maia's character so now she's not the same as Clary, but she's real flirty with guys and has no problem talking to them. Basically when it comes to boys, she's the opposite of Clary. Ok thanks.**

Clary P.O.V.

I found myself at a loss of words even though all he had said was hi. Ugh, I hated this part of me. Usually I was the independent girl who no one messed with, with the brains and the brawl. Okay, it's not like I have guns, it's just that I'm a swimmer and swimmers are str-ong.

But there standing right in front of me was a drop-dead handsome guy who was waiting for some sort of responsiveness. I saw his perfect lips sculpt into a smirk, like he knew how girls typically reacted to him. That shook me out of my day dream.

"What can I help you with?" I asked him, getting lost in his breath-taking eyes.

"I'm new here; I'm going to-" he started, but I interrupted, which I soon regretted.

"Linhale High?" I asked stupidly. Curse my stupid ego. Typically I wasn't an egoistic person, but when it came to my school, I had a little pride. I didn't go to Linhale High like most of the kids here. I went to Scarlen Academy, a regular school, but with a terrific sports program. Usually they called you for an interview but as soon as they saw that I was on the USA Junior Swim Team, they accepted me right away, knowing that they were soon going to need a bigger trophy room. Scarlen was one of the best in the nation.

He smiled and I melted. Damn, I don't even know him and I'm seeing fantasies already. "Noooo," he began, prolonging the "o". I was tempted to roll my eyes at him, however gorgeous he was.

"I'm going to Scarlen Academy. I needed to get my textbooks and your uncle there said you went to Scarlen too, so I should ask you where to get them from. This obviously is not the place," he snickered. I narrowed my eyes at him. No one insults Uncle Luke's bookstore. Sure, its old but its wonderful.

It finally hit me. Of course, he's an ass. I forgot for a moment that a boy with features like these had to be a jerk. No surprises there.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Then why, pray tell, are you here?" I snapped.

"Ooh, feisty Ariel. As far as I remember, she was a sweet little mermaid," he taunted, a smirk playing at his lips.

"The name's Clary and I'm NOT a mermaid," I snapped…again.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked, smiling, showing some teeth. Could he get any more perfect? Straight, milk white…snap out of it girl. I remembered thinking he was a swimmer. Perfect chance.

"Say, how did YOU get into Scarlen?" I asked. Poking at an inflated ego was always the best way to worm facts out of guys.

He looked at me, irriated. "I swim, isn't it obvious?"

"Oh is that so? Who's the mermaid now?" I retorted gleefully. The irritated look disappeared and the smirk was back on.

"Hmm…" his eyebrows scrunched in mock thought…how adorable, "Still you."

"Shut up. You can get your textbooks at Warner Books , two blocks from here. Bye…" I said, wiggling my fingers at him. I then turned on my heel and entered the maze of shelves, trying to find the spot where Maia had hidden herself.

"Hey!" he called, "I'll see you in two months, Ariel!" Two months…? Oh…right, school.

"That's not my name!" I called back. Ass.

I looked for Maia everywhere until I found her in the bean bag in the back of the store curled up reading a book. I grinned. Just like me, Maia devoured books. We were total book worms.

"There you are! Thanks for backing me up back there, best bud!" I said sarcastically.

"Sure, anytime," she replied with sugary sweetness. "No, but seriously I was watching you guys. I'm so proud of you! You didn't stutter once!"

"Gee thanks, the guy was a jerk," I told her.

"Figures, a boy like that would be. But you should have seen your face! SA-WOON! Ha!"I glared at her. She stopped laughing hysterically. "Well, that's too bad. I was thinking maybe you finally had a chance of getting a boyfriend."

"Maia! I barely know they guy and how many times do I tell you! I don't need a boyfriend!" I yelled, quickly glancing back to see if Luke was there to tell me to use "indoor voices". He wasn't. Phew.

"Shut up Clary. Come on, its senior year! You're going to college next year! You need a boyfriend! OMG! That boy's going to Scarlen right? Wait wait wait. Does he play tennis?" she squealed.

I rolled my eyes. Maia was a tennis whiz. Like, it was scary to be her opponent, so it was not a surprise when she burst through my apartment door holding the Scarlen acceptance letter in her hand.

"No he doesn't. He swims." I said dully.

"Ahhhhh!" she squealed. I winced.

"Ow, Maia, that's not necessary."

"Dude you could totally be the perfect couple. OH. MY. GOD. THIS IS PRICELESS!" she gushed.

"Maia, I don't date assholes, okay? Let it drop. Plus, I am craving a good book, so shut your face hole," I promptly told her. She stuck her tongue out at me and went back to her book. I went to the classics shelf and skimmed it until my eyes rested on a faded deep green book spine. _Great Expectations._ I grinned. One of my favorites. I plucked the book from the shelf, settled into the comfy chair and got lost in the wonderful tale woven by mastermind Dickens.

Strange, but a little part of me was still thinking about the mystery blonde boy who's name I didn't know. And that little part of me was looking forward to when I was seeing him again. Two months seemed too long. Who knew that our second meeting was going to happen much, much sooner than that?


	3. More Than Just Yogurt

**Hey guys! I would like to thank my fist five reviewers MIgirl923, GirlWithASoul, Japann29, 37XPeeta, bookworm24mjk! Thank you so much for your support and you guys make me want to update even faster than ever! And IKR! Swimmers are so hot…I would know because there are plenty of hot swimmers where I swim lol….enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think!**

**Feel free to give any thoughts or ideas for the story!**

More Than Just Yogurt

Jace P.O.V.

I stepped out of the tiny little bookstore trying to process what had just happened in there. The girl was interesting…with fiery red hair, just like her attitude. Come to think of it, Ariel is such a clever name for her, and it seems to piss her off when I call her that so I'll do just that. Call her Ariel. Just to piss her off.

No, but really she was different. I mean yeah she drooled when she saw me. I get it. I'm naturally drop dead handsome with Greek God worthy looks. Girls use these words to describe me in their diaries. How would I know? Let's just say I've had more than just a couple idiotic girlfriends.

But she recovered quickly. THAT was not normal. She was up and snappy in no time and I didn't like that. Yeah, she was prettier than most girls with a swimmer's body which definitely appeals to me, but…I don't know. There's nothing that could describe her. She seemed like a tough nut to crack and me, being me, will make sure she cracks, hard. I smiled, knowing that Jace Wayland had a challenge in his hands. And was NOT going to lose.

Oh wait, hold on a minute. I sound like a creeper. No, I'm not going to make her fall for me and then dump her and break her heart. That's what assholes do and I am not one of them. All I'm saying is I'm going to find out whether she's worth making friends with or if she's just one of those bimbos that kiss up to me because I usually end being popular and because I'm unbelievably good looking.

Now, that also doesn't mean that I don't flirt. Oh I can be plenty friendly and can turn the charm on any time of day…and that makes me irresistible, to anyone.

Clary P.O.V.

_2 days later…_

I was lying on my bed flat on my back staring at the ceiling trying to find something to do. It was 92 degrees in New York and I wanted to go outside and do something but I didn't know what. I mean I usually went and drew whatever I wanted wherever I wanted, but today my brain was fried and I was out of inspiration.

Maia was on a date with her boyfriend Jordan so I was kinda out of luck. The heat was starting to really get to me, so I decided to go to the local frozen yogurt place where all the teenagers usually hung out. It was a nice place and maybe I could meet an old friend there and catch up.

I slipped on my dark red track shorts and a loose white t-shirt. Tying my hair into a sloppy pony-tail, I grabbed my keys, put on my black flip flops and headed out the door. I had kept thinking about the new boy after our little chat, but it had been 2 days since I saw him and I was starting to forget about it.

I walked to the yogurt place listening to the humming and honking of the cars passing by. I waved to a couple of familiar faces on the way and finally reached my destination. I opened the door, a wave of cool air passing over me. Ahhh, the bliss of air conditioning.

As I entered, I saw groups of huddled teenagers laughing, throwing their heads back at witty comments and the latest gossip. I noticed a girl sitting alone in the back of the restaurant playing with her yogurt with her spoon, her head resting on her free hand with an irritated look on her face.

I came a little closer, noticing her beautiful features. She had jet black hair that spilled over her shoulders and gorgeous long lashes and blue eyes. She was probably new too. What was with all the new people this year?

I guess she noticed me come up because she stood up right away and came to me.

"Hi! I'm Isabelle, but you can call me Izzy. Thank god you are here! You're like the only girl who doesn't have a giant group of friends surrounding her. God like it would be so awkward just to go up to one of the groups and try to mingle with them, you know? Like I don't wanna look like a freak. Um..so..hi!" Isabelle said all this very fast.

I laughed, I liked this girl; she reminded me of Maia. "Hi, I'm Clarissa but call me Clary. What are you doing here all alone?" I asked her, curious what a pretty girl like her was doing alone. Ah dang, I sound like a guy saying some cheesy pick up line at a bar…_What's a pretty girl like you doing alone?_ Shit, man that's not cool.

She raised her eyebrows. "I could ask you the same thing…" God this girl was just like Maia; they HAVE to meet. "But, no," she continued, "My brothers stood me up. God they're always late for EVERYTHING!"

I opened my mouth to reply when I saw that blonde guy walk through the door with another black-haired boy that looked very similar to Isabelle. She must have seen my delay in response, so she turned her head to look at what I was staring at.

"Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear," she sighed. HE WAS HER BROTHER? "Where the hell were you two? Do have any idea how long I was waiting?" she almost screeched. Then she looked at me. "Oh, guys this is Clary. Clary, these are my brothers, Jace and Alec."

I watch the blonde boy smirk at he recognized who I was. The black-haired boy just smiled politely at me. "I'm sorry, but who is who?" I asked staring into the blonde's eyes. I always seemed to get lost in them, but the annoying part was that he noticed, and smirked even wider. Shit.

"Hey, Ariel, I know I'm hot, but did you know it's rude to stare?" Jace asked smoothly. Isabelle looked between me and Blondie with a confused look on her face.

"You two know each other? And he's Jace and adopted and this one here is Alec, my real brother."

"Oh ok. And no, we do not know each other. Not exactly," I tried to cover up; I didn't want to fall in his trap, who knew what could come out of his mouth next?

"Actually, little red, I beg to differ. You were the one getting all driven on me about getting into Scarlen, isn't that right?" he mused. I glared at him, my green eyes boring deep into his. Little red? How many nicknames does he have for me?

"Yes, I was because I can't quite understand how a person who can't even remember actual names got into a SCHOOL. My name is Clarissa and nothing else, got it Jace?" I snapped.

He looked unfazed by my little comment and countered with, "I thought it was Clary."

"Only my friends call me that," I retorted. Isabelle, who was watching our heated argument quietly, looked even more confused than before.

"So Isabelle's your friend? Geez little red, I pity your friendship making skills."

Isabelle, getting fed up with us and getting annoyed at Jace's comment stepped in. "Yes, Isabelle IS her friend and I feel bad for you who thinks being cocky is being charming."

"I am being charming because somehow, dear sister, they all fall for me no matter how cocky I'm being. Admit it Ariel, you find me irresistible," he smirked.

"You'll be irresistible when I dump this yogurt on head, because unlike you, this yogurt is actually worth something." I slammed Isabelle's half-full yogurt cup on the table and grabbed her arm. "Come on Izzy, let's not waste our time." With that we stormed out of the store trying not to laugh at Jace's expression. Total shock.


	4. Real Men Make Waffles

**Guys thank you so much for the reviews, they keep me going! I'll update sooner if I can get maybe 15 reviews total? I mean not on this chapter only lol I mean all together. Thanks guys!**

Real Men Make Waffles

Clary P.O.V

Laughing, Isabelle and I pushed through the doors of the mall into the hot summer night.

"And then," Isabelle said between giggles, "Jace comes running in to see what's wrong and falls flat in his face into," Isabelle doubled over laughing, gasping trying to finish her sentence, "a bowl of onion dip!" She erupted into laughter here and I joined in imagining Jace's pretty boy face covered in onion dip.

"His face smelled bad even after washing it. He smelled like that for like two days!" Isabelle couldn't stop laughing and neither could I.

"Okay you did this when you were how old?" I asked, amused.

"We were thirteen and he got so mad he wouldn't talk to me for a week," she told me, still laughing.

"Come on Izzy, that was pretty evil of you," I told her sternly, trying not to burst out laughing.

"Hey, I'm a girl with two brothers. I gotta entertain myself somehow!" I laughed at her total indifference to making her brother's lives miserable by playing pranks on them 24-7.

"Did he ever get you back?" I asked, wondering what kind of things Jace was capable of.

"Oh yes," Isabelle muttered, "One time, a guy came to pick me up for a date and Jace pretended he was my violent ex-boyfriend who was still madly in love with me and would beat up an guy that tried to 'take me away'. He scared the shit out of the poor guy."

Not being able to help it, I burst into laughter. Glancing at Isabelle, I stopped, "Sorry, yeah not funny. Yep. That was um…yeah not funny at all, mean actually." I slapped my hand onto my mouth to control my giggles.

"Oh yeah, I can tell you think it's totally not funny," Isabelle said darkly. "Do you have any siblings that you unfortunately have to live with?"

I felt a lump in my throat form and my eyes clouded over. "Um, no. My parents and my brother died in a car accident four years ago. I wasn't in the car crash; I was at my Uncle Luke's place. He um, took care of me until I turned eighteen and then I bought my own apartment. I live by myself."

"Oh, Clary, I'm so sorry," Isabelle whispered. Glancing around, she said, "It's dark and we walked all the way here. Um, my house is like two minutes away; you can crash there."

"Oh no, it's ok. I'll manage," I said quietly, but Isabelle would have none of it.

"Oh no, you are coming and that is final," she proclaimed, grabbing my hand and pulling me in the direction of her house.

"Fine, but are you sure your parents won't mind?" I asked nervously.

"Oh I don't live with my parents. They let me move out to New York on one condition; that I had to stay with my brothers. They didn't think it was a bad idea and Jace and I got into Scarlen anyway so it all worked out," she told me. Ah crap, so I was going to have to put up with a night with Jace only a couple yards away from me. It was weird but a little part of me was excited to see him again. What? No no no no no. Clarrisa, you do not like Jace. Shit! Leave it up to me to fall for the wrong guy. Maybe he was hot, but no, I did not like him. He was a jerk and I do not like jerks.

We arrived at Isabelle's apartment and took a deep breath before going inside. The wonderful smell of syrup smothered me and I realized how hungry I was. Checking my watch, I realized it was 11:30. I hadn't eaten in eight hours! We entered the apartment to see Jace in the kitchen wearing basketball shorts and a white shirt with the Nike logo on it.

Damn he looked hot in anything. And he cooked? That makes him even more attractive. Snap out of it woman, I told myself.

"Jace," Isabelle sighed, "What ARE you doing?"

"Oh hey Iz- what's little red doing here?" Jace lifted on eyebrow. Dammit, why can everyone do that but me? I sighed, knowing he will never give me the satisfaction of him saying my real name. I glared at him and he smiled cheekily showing his dimples and perfect white teeth.

"CLARY," Isabelle started, putting emphasis on my name, "is spending the night here and YOU will not bother her."

"No promises sister dearest," Jace smirked.

"Can you guys NOT talk like I'm not standing right here?" I growled and flopped onto the couch.

"Ooh, someone's a little cranky. No one likes a cwanky mah-maid," he said in a little kid voice, widening his eyes.

"Jaaaace," I whined, "Just shut up!" I groaned, knowing this was going to be a long night. My stomach rumbled and my ears reddened in embarrassment.

"Sherlock has cracked the case!" Jace announced, not even looking back. "Ariel is being a grouchy old hag because she's hungry and drooling over the delicious waffles I am making."

Sitting up I looked at Jace in the kitchen. "You're making waffles? But you're a guy."

Jace spun around laughing. A real laugh, not a sarcastic one this time. A little surprised he asked, "What's that supposed to mean? If you think only girls can cook, you, darling, are absolutely wrong." Popping a strawberry in his mouth he added, "and Izzy is a living example of that."

Isabelle glared at him and slapped his arm. "Oh and did our bags arrive yet? If they are lost I swear-"

"No, well yeah. I mean my bags came but yours and Alec's still haven't."

"THEN WHAT THE HELL AM I - ARE WE SUPPOSED TO WEAR?" Isabelle screeched.

"Jeez, Izzy, it's not my fault. Just wear something of mine, no big deal. You wore all my shirts when we were little because they were quote 'Big and smell like my brother and comfy.'"

"I never said that!" Isabelle said.

"I have proof Iz," Jace said raising his eyebrows at his sister.

"Okay, but what about Clary? You don't expect her to wear jeans to sleep do you?" Isabelle had bought me a new outfit at the mall and actually threw away my other clothes.

"No it-" I began.

"She can wear something of mine too. You can manage Isabelle, it's only a couple of nights."

I couldn't help but notice the faint shade of pink on Jace's cheeks. Was he seriously blushing about me wearing his clothes? Wow.

"Alright, fine." Isabelle led me to Jace's room and pulled out two pairs of shorts and two large cotton shirts. "Here," she tossed me a pair, "Go change."

I went to the bathroom and changed into Jace's clothes. They smelled comforting and sweet. Like...like…sunshine and warmth. How odd.

I walked out of the bathroom and almost ran into Jace. "Oh sorry," I whispered.

"Watch where you're going little red. I left some waffles out for you and Izzy in case you got hungry, I'm going to bed." He started to walk towards his room when he backed up. "As much as you wanna go in there, my room is for my enjoyment only, k Ariel?" he whispered in my ear. I glared at him and he smirked.

God this boy was confusing!

**What do you think? Review! Thanks!**


	5. Paranormal Behavior

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for the reviews, really thank you! I was hoping to get up to 23 reviews for another chapter? Pweeeeese! Thanks guys, means a lot. Here's the new Chappie!**

**Oh and again, feel free to give me any ideas.**

Paranormal Behavior

Clary P.O.V.

Isabelle and I were snuggled on the couch, sharing a fuzzy gray blanket in between us. I loved this type of thing. I felt so comfortable in Jace's over-sized shirts and shorts with the blanket draped over us.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked lazily. I wasn't tired but just bored I guess.

"Um…wanna watch a movie? I think we have some new movie releases on Netflix," Isabelle offered.

Not having any other ideas of my own, I agreed, "Sure."

"Mkay, hand me the remote," she demanded.

"Izzy, its right in front of you," I said amused.

"Ugh, it's so far away thoughhhh," she whined. I rolled my eyes and handed her the remote before she could continue whining again. Turning the T.V. on, we surfed through dozens of comedies, sappy romances, chick flicks, drama…

"There's the Hubble documentary…" Isabelle started. Was this girl kidding me?

"Izzy! We are NOT that desperate! Come on! _Documentary_? Really?" I exclaimed.

"Well you got any other better ideas?" she snapped. I stuck my tongue out at her to mask the fact that I really did not have any better ideas.

"OOO!" she squealed. "What about Paranormal Activity 3?"

Oh no. I hated horror movies. I got so scared it wasn't even funny.

"Okay…" I said. SHIT! What did I just agree to? "Wait! No!" She gave me a quizzical look. Not wanting to sound like a total baby I added, "It's too long don't you think? I mean-"

Isabelle gave me serious look. "Too long? Honey, it's summer vacation. Do I really give a damn about how long we stay up?" Shaking her head, she clicked play and we were watching Paranormal Activity 3. Great.

We were about half-way through the movie and Isabelle and I were huddled together in a tight ball in one end of the couch. Our eyes were glued to the screen but would tear away if we heard even the slightest odd noise coming from the apartment. Fear coursed through my whole body and I made sure not to move an inch or make the slightest sound. I HATED scary movies. They made me feel so vulnerable. Ugh!

Suddenly we heard a creak in the wooden floor. Then a louder one. My eyes got wide. "What. Was that?" I whispered.

"I-I don't know," Isabelle whispered back, her eyes widening too. "Jace?" she asked in a meek voice. No response. "Alec?" she asked again in the same tone. The creaking sound continued and fear built up in me, my whole body frozen in its stance.

"Izzy…" I asked uncertainly. She quickly put a finger to her lips to shush me.

Jace P.O.V.

I slapped my hand over my mouth to stop myself from bursting out in laughter. God these girls were too easy. Izzy was probably going to murder me for what I was going to do next, but I decided with Clary it would be worth it.

"It's probably nothing, just ignore it," Isabelle whispered and we the girls went back to watching the movie. I took this as an opportunity and snuck behind the couch waiting for an intense moment to come on.

Of course they didn't hear me. Pranking Isabelle and Alec for the past seven years was good experience. Oh those good old days, when Isabelle didn't have a brain and would go crying to Maryse whenever I did something, instead of now when she always gets revenge.

Suddenly the music in the movie became very silent and eerie, slowly building up into a faster and scarier tune. Right when the music came at its peak…

Clary P.O.V.

"BOO!"

"!" I screamed a terrifyingly high pitched scream. What the HELL?

Our heads had completely turned around and we peered over the edge of the couch, our hearts still racing madly from the shock. Alec came running in, his hair tousled and his eyebrows pinched with worry.

"What happened?" he asked, concerned.

Behind the couch, sure enough, was Jace. On the floor. Laughing like there was no tomorrow. Clutching his stomach, trying to regain his breath.

"JACE!" Isabelle and I yelled at the same time in anger and fright.

He was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down his cheeks. "You're faces…" he gasped between laughs, "Priceless!" and he doubled over laughing again.

"That's not funny!" I yelled at him. Isabelle and my eyes met and we grabbed our pillows and started whacking Jace wherever we could catch sight of him in our mad frenzy.

"That," whack, "Was," whack, "SO," whack, "Not," whack, "FUNNY!" big whack.

Jace shielded his face from the pillow bombs and tried to escape. "Stop! Stop! STOP!" he yelled, still half laughing. We finally stopped to see his lips twisted up into a smirk again.

"That was incredibly funny and you both know it," he snickered.

"Oh god," I huffed, pushing my hair out of my face. "You scared the freaking shit out of me!" I placed both hands on my forehead, still recovering from the shock.

"That was the intention, little red," he mused.

"_That was the intention, little red_," I mimicked in a stupid low guy's voice. He laughed. I smiled internally, having the dumb satisfaction of making him laugh. Ah stupid little crush. He was jerk nonetheless. It wasn't like I was pining for him. Oh well.

"Jace, you will never change will you? Boys are so immature!" Isabelle shrieked.

All of a sudden we heard a knock at the door. "You planned this all out didn't you?"

"Iz, I swear, I don't know who's at the door." Jace looked earnest.

Grumbling, Isabelle opened the door to reveal a very handsome brown-haired boy with black eyes and a lean figure just like Jace. Of course, he wasn't as beyond hot as Jace, but he was fiiiiiine. His curly medium-length hair was tousled and looked like he had just been woken up.

"Hey," he started in a deep, smoky voice. "I heard yelling down here and I just came to check if something was wrong." What was with all these hot guys and how come I have never seen them before?

"Oh hey Seb. Clary, this is Sebastian. He's our age and lives upstairs. He just moved here too."

I moved forward to meet Sebastian. "Hi I'm Clarrisa, but everyone calls me Clary," I smiled warmly and he returned a gorgeous one.

"Correction," Jace interrupted. "Only her friends call her Clary. Everyone else calls her little red."

Clary glared at Jace and he just smiled back. Typical. "Well, then consider me a friend Clary," Sebastian said sweetly. I grinned at him. "So what happened?" he asked, curious.

"Jace scared the hell outta us by yelling boo during a horror movie," Isabelle said, irritated.

"Niiiice, man, but that's a little harsh. We don't wanna scare Clary on her first night here now do we? That'll make her not want to come back…" he grinned at me. Woah, was he flirting with me? Well he was plenty nice so whatever.

"Aw, no. Of course I would come back Seb," I told him, returning the flirty smile.

"Well, it's late so we better get back to bed. Night man, see ya later," Jace said loudly before ushering Sebastian out the door and slamming it in his face.

"Heyyy, why'd you make him leave? He was _really_ nice," I pouted.

"Well, it's _really_ late," Jace snapped.

"You didn't think about that before deciding to scare us!" I countered.

"Just go to sleep Clary," he said tiredly. Something told me that he didn't like Sebastian very much. I began to walk to Isabelle's room when I realized that he had actually said my real name. For the first time. Huh.


	6. I Don't Get NervousOr Do I?

**THANK YOU so much for the reviews. I only got 21, not 23, but I got really excited anyway and decided to update, lol. Keep the reviews coming! I'll update faster I promise! Please tell me what you think! Thanks!**

I Don't Get Nervous…Or Do I?

I could feel the sunshine pouring out all over my face as I opened one eye and then quickly shut it, the light being too much too bear. I heard two people talking outside the room door.

"Come on Jace! It'll be fun!" I could hear Isabelle's squeals clearly through the room door.

"Ok two things," I heard Jace say, sounding bored. "Madame Clarissa isn't even up yet so I don't know how you are planning of leaving now…and two, there is a mandatory summer swim practice I have to go to for the Scarlen Boys Swim Team. It's the only co-ed practice, meaning the girls team will be there too, in the whole summer. Very important, so no."

Silence followed his little speech, so I was guessing that elaborate explanations were the only way to get Isabelle to shut up. Finally trying to actually register what Jace said, my eyes widened and I shot up in bed. SHIT! I completely forgot that the co-ed practice was today! I glanced at the clock. 8:57. I only had a half hour to get home, pack my swim back, get into my swim suit AND warm up!

Jumping out of bed I flung open the room door, meeting two pairs of surprised eyes. Isabelle opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off, grabbing her arm. "NO QUESTIONS NOW! GET ME HOME IN SHORTEST TIME POSSIBLE!" I hollered. "Shit! I'm gonna be so late!" I saw Jace's amused expression from the corner of my eye as I flung my bag over my shoulder and dragged Isabelle out with the other hand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Isabelle exclaimed as I pulled her down the stairs.

"I have swim practice!"

She paused for a second, "You…Jace was saying…ohhhhhhhhh."

"Yeah, ohhhhhhh. Now hurry up! Shit shit shit!" We scrambled into the car, Isabelle gunned the engine and drove like mad. She swerved and dodged, trying to concentrate on the road over my incessant yelling.

"Clary shut up! I'm trying!" she yelled, irritated. Finally, she pulled into the curb right outside my apartment. I opened the door and slammed it, throwing a hasty 'thanks' over my shoulder. I bolted up the steps, shoving my key into the door. 9:07. Craaaaap! In a mad frenzy, I pulled on my suit, did some quick stretches and shoved a billion things into my swim bag before throwing on a tank top and shorts, grabbing my keys and phone and bursting out my apartment door.

I glanced at the clock in my car before pulling into the parking lot. 9:28. Phew. Two minutes was more than enough time for getting into the pool area.

As I entered the girls locker room, I noticed a bunch of my swim team friends stretching. "Heyyyyy girls!" I said. They all turned their heads in my direction and smiled widely.

"ARIEL!" they squealed and pulled me into a massive group hug.

"We've missed you so much Clary!" my closest friend Nicole said.

"Aw, I've missed you guys too! So you check out they guys team yet?" I asked, already knowing one of the guys on the team. Guess.

"No," Lindsey began, "But I hope they're hot! God we need hot guys on our team to keep us going."

We all laughed and I was reminded of how much fun I had hanging out with these girls.

"Yeah, we sure do. But I am sure as hell that we are going to do some ass-whoopin' out there today.  
Even though the coaches say it's not a competition. Show the guys who's boss.," Amy said.

"YEAH!" we all agreed. I just couldn't wait to wipe that smirk off of Jace's face when he sees me go. We heard two whistles. Our cue to meet up at the pool. I stripped off my tank top and shorts, grabbed my goggles and cap and left with the girls.

We walked out into the large pool area and sat down, waiting until everyone arrived. We noticed the guys swim team come out from the other side of the gym. We commented on each boy as they came out one by one. I saw a familiar boy step out of the locker room, soon realizing it was Sebastian.

"Ooh…that one's is cuuuute. Hot even! Oh my gosh! He's looking at you!" Nicole squealed.

I saw Sebastian recognize me as he grinned and waved. I waved back, smiling. He seemed like a really nice guy AND he swam! Lost in my own thoughts, I turned to see what all the girls were gasping and whispering about. There he was, dressed in a cotton t-shirt and swim shorts. Jace.

"Oh. My. God. Hot. Hot. Hot," Amy whispered.

"Just look at his eyes, god, to die for."

"Woah, blondie over there is one fine piece of male specimen."

"Who. Is. He?"

"Trying out was totally worth it."

"Daaaaamn."

I listened to all the girls commenting and drooling over him. He smiled at us, as if knowing that this was nothing new and I swear they all just practically melted. I rolled my eyes. If only they knew…

I saw Kaelie wink at him and he smirked, winking back. Player, I thought. Kaelie was probably the only girl on the team I hated. Turns out, her best event is flirting with the guys team. She wasn't even that good at swimming; I don't how she got in. Probably because her dad donated a gazillion bucks to the school.

"Alright people." Coach Melrose's voice rang out clear in the room. "Hurry up and quit wasting time. This is the only co-ed practice of the summer. Girls, I am the one speaking, not . Eyes up here please." Nicole and I snickered.

"He may be hot but jerk is written right across his face," Nicole whispered to me.

"Oh, just wait Nic, you just wait." She gave me a confused look.

"You know the guy?"

"Um, sort of. It's complicated," I replied, uneasily.

"I bet it is…" she said with a flirty smile. I rolled me eyes at her and bumped my shoulder to hers.

"So listen up! Each girl or guy will be competing against the guy or girl of their same rank. So the boy and girl ranking, say, fifth on the team will be swimming against each other. Now your times will be recorded, but will not be purpose is to push yourself. Got it? Now the course will be as the following. We will be doing a 100 race. Free to back, back to fly, fly to breast. I'm gonna read out the names of the ranks starting from tenth place. Maddy-Madison vs. Bryce. Beth-Bethany vs. Kyle. Kaelie vs. Matthew. Maria vs. Neil. Bella-Isabella vs. Jordan. Lindsey vs. Ayden. Amy vs. Luke. Annabeth vs. Percy. **(sorry I had to do that.)** Nic-Nicole vs. Seb-Sebastian. And first place, Clary-Clarrisa vs. Jace-Jonathan," Coach ended, saying everyone's nicknames along with their real ones.

Ah crap, of course JACE had to be the best on the guy's team. If I lost, he would never let me hear the end of it. I glanced at Jace at the opposite side of the room and he flashed me a smile. Quickly, he raised his hand to form an 'L' over his forehead.

"Loser," he mouthed. Typical Jace.

"You wish," I mouthed back.

"Ok, so it is kinda complicated," Nicole told me raising her eyebrows, looking between Jace and I.

"Yeah, no kidding," I said to her dryly.

"GET WARMED UP," The coaches boomed. "Tenth place will be going first, so Maddy and Bryce, you two are up."

"Good luck," I said, patting her on the back while she put on her cap.

"Thanks," she smiled. I liked Maddy. She was really nice and sweet and wasn't a sore loser. On top of that, despite being tenth, she wasn't a jealous bitch like some of the other girls on the team. Unlike, Kaelie, I didn't hate those girls. I just disliked them. Kaelie, I hated.

They raced and Maddy won. Score one for the girls! We all cheered and rubbed it in the guys' faces. They looked annoyed.

"Aw, did your guys' egos just deflate a little?" Nicole snickered. Did I mention how much I loved her? We made stupid pouty faces at them and laughed. One by one, the races went on and the girls still dominated. Okay fine, we were "dominating" by one, by we were still ahead!

Nerves built up inside me. Usually I would never get nervous, but judging by how fit and lean Jace was, I could tell he was good. Like really good.

Up next were Nicole and Sebastian. "Come on Nic! Show 'em who's boooooss!" I cheered. She responded by a big "WOOOOOO!"

I saw Sebastian go up to the starting board. I smiled at him and gave him silent thumbs up. He was realllly cute. I guess I might have developed a little crush on him, but sadly, my little crush on Jace was bigger.

"Thanks," he mouthed to me, grinning. He took off his shirt, revealing a toned body. He had abs, but they were kind of faint.

"On your marks, get set-" the gun went off and the two dived into the water. After a really fast 100, both their palm slammed into the wall at the same time.

"Shit!" Nicole cursed, slamming her fist into the water. She climbed out of the water, really out of breath. "Damn, he's fast. I pushed myself harder today than I ever had. If he's number two, I'm scared to see who's number 1."

So am I, I said in my head. I smiled weakly at her. I was up next.

**OOOO Cliffy! Review!**


	7. Mary Had a Little Fall

**Hey guys! I can't believe I got 9 reviews in just a day and a half! You guys are so awesome! Thank you Thank you! I've been getting a lot of questions whether I swim or if I'm on a team so I just wanted to clarify a few things. **

**Yes, I'm on a team, but it's just a small team at the local swim academy near my town.**

**BTW GirlWithASoul is right. Guys of the same rank as girls are faster, but this is a stupid love story and I like a little girl power so I just made it that way lol. But I did actually beat a couple guys of my rank once, which I was proud of.**

**About the terminology, these are the terms my coach uses so free to back is freestyle to backstroke, back to fly is backstroke to butterfly, fly to breast is butterfly to breaststroke. And I realized that I forgot to put in the last stroke but whatever. Sorry for the confusion. I tried to keep out most of the swimming terms so that people who don't swim wouldn't really get the wrong idea.**

**I'm not the fastest swimmer ever, but I am getting private coaching so I can try out for a bigger team which I'm psyched about.**

**Okay, enough about me let's get to the story! Enjoy darlings and thank you for your support!**

Mary Had a Little Fall

I jumped up and down, shaking my hands and stretching my neck from side to side. That was my way of getting pumped up before a race. And it usually intimidated my opponents. Psychology was a big part of my sport and you had to be mentally strong as well as physically. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working on Jace. He was probably going to kick my ass.

"Let's see whatcha got Clary. This boy is one of the best teens in the country. Actually, he is the bloody best. I heard he's getting trained for the Olympic Tryouts," Coach Melrose said. My eyes widened. Olympics? I immediately thought of Michael Phelps. I had been watching him on T.V. for as long as I could remember. I always dreamt of being an Olympic swimmer and getting into the U.S. Junior Swim Team was one of the best days of my life. The Olympics were just behind the next hill on my road to success.

"How come I've never heard of him? What about that guy…uh, um…Brian Heron-something or the other who used to go here? He's in college now right?" I asked.

"Jace is new. He just beat Herondale…quite recently," Coach said.

"What's his time," I asked, trying to sound indifferent, but in truth I was getting more nervous by the second. I had never gotten lower than first place in, well, ever and I did not intend on changing that.

"For the100 freestyle long? 49.58." My jaw dropped.

"FORTY NINE FIFTY EIGHT?" I whisper-yelled. Mine was 54.23! "How long has he been training?" I had been training since I first discovered my love in the water when I was 9. From then on, there was no stopping me.

"I know…he can fly. I believe he's been training since he was four. As soon as we saw him go in tryouts, boom, he was in. I have never seen a boy go with a motion like his. It's beautiful. Clary, you train with him, that Stanford Scholarship is in," Coach gave me a serious look. I nodded quickly. There's only one problem…I CAN'T TRAIN WITH HIM! He would give me hell. Why couldn't Sebastian be the best? Damn it!

"Okay, its time. Push yourself more than you ever have Ari, you can do this, hun. Show em' what my girl is made of." Great. Now I felt like I was competing, making me even more nervous! Crap! I walked up to the starting block.

"Hey Red," Jace greeted, flexing his arms, "Ready for some competition?" he said cheekily.

"You're going in like that?" I asked, glancing at his apparel. His shirt was still on and his goggles were lying next to him. Ugh you have NO idea how much a cotton shirt can slow you down. Of course, no swimmer would ever dare to do that. The idea was absurd.

"So eager to see me shirtless huh?" he mused. Asshat.

"Oh totally," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

He shrugged. "You asked for it." With that, he peeled off his shirt, revealing a sexy, toned, very visible six pack. There was no trace of fat ANYWHERE in his body. His arms weren't bulky muscled, but they were deliciously toned, with smooth curves. His natural tan and blonde hair made him look like the most beautiful thing ever. I couldn't help but gawk at his abs.

There was an audible "Woah" coming from the girls side of the deck. He just smirked. I forgot for a split second that his dreamy body was visible to everyone else here too.

"Damn, what does he do?" I heard a whisper coming from the guys.

"Dude, he's the best, what do you expect. Just watch him become captain on the first PRACTICE."

"Well, I saw him at tryouts and his time was better than Brian's so I'm guessing that's whats gonna happen."

Argh, shut up shut up shut up. I was SERIOUSLY getting nervous now. I was going to lose.

After five minutes, we were both positioned on the starting block. I blocked everything out of my mind and waited for the gun shot, my muscles ready to spring into action.

It could practically hear the rhythm of my heart when suddenly a deafening gunshot disrupted the steady beat. I dived into the water with lightening speed, my focus straight ahead. The crashing of water was loud in my ears and my arms worked like a furious machine, using every in of strength I had in my body.

I noticed Jace was about two strokes ahead of me. Shit, I cursed, making myself trying to work a little faster. Under the water I heard an odd muffled yelling of my coach and then a yell followed by a voice that sounded a lot like Lindsey. A middle aged woman's voice entered the scramble of dialogue and then a shriek, very similar to that of a little girl.

I heard no instruction so I kept going, letting nothing deter me. The yelling was getting louder. Then the piercing sound of a whistle shot through the air.

I stopped and poked my head out of the water, trying to piece together what was happening. Lindsay's mom was there, sobbing "Mary" over and over again and my heart stopped. Wasn't Mary Lindsey's four year old sister? She was the sweetest thing ever and always gave me a huge hug whenever I saw her. The next thing I saw was Jace speeding down the 50 meter lane with a speed I never thought was possible. I watched, mesmerized by his stroke and then saw him disappear under the water.

I waited for him to come back up but he didn't. Time was ticking by and I was starting to get worried. As soon as I opened my mouth to say something, his blonde hair poked out of the water. He came up fully, taking a big breath. In his arms was a little brown-haired girl. Mary. Sobbing and coughing.

"Oh Mary! You're okay! Thank you so much! Oh I don't know how I can repay you! Would you like some kind of-"

"No! No, ma'am. Really. It's no problem." Jace smiled at the woman, who was hugging Mary with all her love. I saw Lindsey run over and hug Mary to death. Still very confused, I swam over to the edge of the pool and hoisted myself out.

"Oh, I am so sorry. I know I wasn't supposed to come in during practice, but the kids were so excited to see Lindsey swim so they just burst through the door and-"

"Don't worry ; what's important here is that Mary is okay. Thank you Jace, that was quick thinking," Coach said. Jace nodded curtly.

"Yes, thank you so much Jace!" the mother cried.

"Really, thanks for saving my sister," Lindsey said. Jace nodded again. I guess he wasn't very used to saving lives. He may be a cocky jerk, but he was a good person. Wow. He just saved a life! Aw crap, my crush on him just got a little bigger.

He walked over to the bench and grabbed his towel, drying his dripping hair. He was wet and looked so…hot. After debating in my head, I went up to him.

"What happened?" I asked seriously. He looked up, noticing me. His expression was serious too.

"A little girl came in super excited and she slipped and fell into the water. I mean, I heard a shriek so I looked up and saw her fall. I guess my immediate reflex was to go and save her, cause the next thing I knew, I was swimming faster than ever. Adrenaline, you know?" he said.

I nodded. Wow, I was so focused on winning, I didn't even bother to see what was going on. Maybe there was more to him than I gave credit for. I smiled at him. "Thanks Jace, Mary is like my sister too. Maybe you're not too bad."

"Gee thanks, little red," he said smiling. I groaned and he laughed. A laugh that lighted up his eyes and made them seem alive.

"Well, I'm guessing practice is over," I said.

"Yeah, but this isn't," Jace replied.

"What?" I asked, not getting what he meant. He smirked. Great, was back.

"You might have gotten out of it this time, but I will not rest until I kick your ass one time or the other."

"We'll see about that. Hmph!" I said haughtily, stamping my foot. Jace smiled, looking amused. What was he smirking at now?

"Did you seriously just _stamp your foot_?" he said, trying not to laugh.

"So what if I did?" I asked irritated. Who did he think he was?

"That's freaking adorable," he said shaking his head, making his way to the boy's locker room.

I felt a blush creeping up on my cheeks. What?


	8. Date Gone Wrong

**Hey guys…only five reviews on my last chapter? Boo hoo. Reviews pleeese! Anyway, thanks to those who did review! Here is the new chapter! Enjoy and let me know what you think!**

**New ideas welcome!**

Date Gone Wrong

Jace P.O.V.

I was lying on my bed, tossing the football up and then catching it. Clarissa. That name sounded so familiar. The first time I met her, I was going to ask…but I'd probably just end up making a fool out of myself. I heard a soft knock on my door.

"Come in," I said lazily. Isabelle walked in slowly. "What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm just looking for something to do," she said.

"Don't pester me with your boredom…go get a manicure, call Clary or something."

"The manicure place is closed and Clary's gone out to dinner with some people," Isabelle informed me.

"So I, being your brother, am your last resort? I am hurt, sister dearest," I said sarcastically. Isabelle threw me an irritated look and I just smiled.

"So whatcha doing?"

"Why do you care?" I demanded.

"Jace, stop being such a brat."

I stuck my tongue out at her and heard her mumble something that sounded a lot like 'immature'. "I'm not doing anything…just thinking."

"Bout what?"

"Clary," I said without thinking. Shit. Her eyes widened.

"Oh really?" she said, raising her eyebrows. "That's it. I knew you developed a crush on her." Ugh. Leave it up to Isabelle to think about that right away. Sure Clary was pretty, cute, strong, sexy…okay never mind, but I didn't like her, like her….yet.

"Not about that, Izzy. It's just…remember there was a girl who lived next to us in L.A.? Cathy or Clare or something?" Maybe Isabelle remembered something.

"Yeah, Clariss-woah do you think…?" she said, her eyes widening again.

"Yeah, yeah." I sat up. "She was a red-head too, right? Her dad used to teach us how to play basketball."

"No, that was only you, her and her brother, Kyle. Me and Alec were usually never around so it was only you two that played. You guys had…some kind of connection, you know? But that was twelve years ago. We were five and then she moved. You were really sad that day. I doubt she remembers us."

"Yeah, same. She was sweet. God she's changed. Now she's got that whole independent, strong, 'you can't touch me' attitude," I said. Her eyes were so alive then, now they looked like they had lost their spark.

"Well, yeah. After her whole family died in a freak car accident." Her hand immediately flew to her mouth. "Don't tell her I told you. She doesn't want anyone to know!"

"What?" I exclaimed. "Her whole family? So basically, she's alone?" That must be horrible. A flower or pity blossomed in my heart. Ah toughen up, you're Jace Wayland. I couldn't believe I was putting all my attention and softening up for just this one girl who I think I used to know.

"Well, she has this one uncle, but I don't think he's blood-related."

"Oh yeah, I met him at some old bookstore down the street…" Then there was a silence.

"Wow, Jace I'm proud of you," Isabelle said out of the blue.

"What?"

"We got through a whole conversation without a single sarcastic comment, well excluding when I came in, or a smirk. Probably cause we were talking about Clary." She winked at me. God, this girl.

"I don't like her! I barely know her! Jace Wayland does not fall for girls, they fall for him." It was true. I don't lie. Never.

"Maybe, Jace Wayland, this time is different."

"Maybe, it's not," I said, annoyed.

"Whatever Jace, but just don't play with her okay? She's a nice girl."

"Since when do I play with girls? We've been over this; I don't do that." I hated guys who screwed girls and then threw them away. It was disgusting. I remember some jerk doing that to Isabelle. She cried for a week and I ended up punching the living daylights out of him.

"I'm not talking about that. Jace you know how girls fall hard for your charm, even if you don't date them. When they realize you don't give a damn about them, well, they cry." She looked close to tears and I realized she was remembering the asshole who played with her.

"Hey," I said softly. No matter how annoying she was, she was my sister. "We are over that remember? I set him in place and don't tell me you didn't enjoy watching that."

"You got grounded for a month!"

"It was worth it," I said and she cracked a watery smile. "Anyway," I started, changing the subject, "I'm hungry."

"We've got some lefto-"

"Isabelle darling, I want food, not poison." I winced, remembering the foul mush she had made yesterday.

She slapped my arm. "Shut up. Well, if you have another brilliant idea of what we can eat, enlighten me."

"You could call Clary; she probably knows a place…" I offered. Isabelle smiled a sly smile.

"For the last time! I don't like her!" I shouted.

"Jeez, okay. I never said you did," she said, picking up her phone. "Ah crap, my phone's dead. You call her."

"She won't know who it is though. It'll just be some random number on her caller ID," I said, reasonably.

"Yeah she will. I gave her your and Alec's number, just in case."

"In case of what?" I asked suspiciously. She just shrugged.

"Call her!"

"Okay! Jesus!" I said, grabbing my phone.

"Do not say the lord's name in vain," she scolded me and I rolled me eyes at her. Drama Queen.

Clary P.O.V.

I sat there, bored. I was in some fancy restaurant with a guy Maia had set me up with. Apparently, he met one his nerd friends here and was happily chatting away with him about calculus or some crap like that.

Suddenly I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I fished it out and saw the caller ID. Jace. My heart skipped a beat as I read his name on my phone. I mean, I liked him because he was hot and I hated myself for liking him for that reason. I should like a guy by his personality, but sadly, I couldn't control who I fell for.

I excused myself and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Oh hey little red. Izzy! She's on the phone!" I heard Jace yell.

A second later, I heard Isabelle's voice coming through the phone. "Hey what's up?" I asked.

"Jace and I were hungry and were wondering if you knew anyplace we could grab a bite. Jace here does not want to eat my healthy home-cooked meal-"

"Cause it smells like freakin crap," I heard Jace's faint voice in the background. I tried to stifle a laugh.

"Shut up Jace! Anyway…so do you?"

"Yeah, actually. My date here sucks so-"

"You're on a date?" she asked, interested.

"Yeah, god he's a complete bore. He's some math nerd who met his math nerd friend and they're happily discussing freaking calculus."

"Ouch, so basically, instead of you on a date, it's the two math nerds on a date," Isabelle said and Jace snickered in the back.

"Ooh watch out, he might just surprise you with a quadratic equation," Jace's faint voice said.

"Why, are you listening to our conversation, Jace?" Isabelle yelled at him. "Sorry."

"No prob, hey why don't you guys come here to eat? I'm already bored to death. It's kinda fancy so you might want to dress up nice," I told her.

"Sure, sounds great! Just give me the address and we'll be there in 10."

I gave Isabelle the address and sat back down at the table where the two nerds were still talking. He didn't even notice me sit down. Whatever, I had friends coming soon. I was just a little excited about seeing Jace again. I mean, he is nice to look at.

Exactly twelve minutes later-yes I was keeping track of time, I had nothing better to do-the two walked through the door. Wow, Jace looked _good_. He cleaned up well, in a black dress shirt and black pants. His golden hair was still tousled, but it didn't hinder his good looks one bit. In fact, it looked sexy.

I waved my hand over and they noticed, walking over. "Hey," I greeted.

"Hi!" Isabelle said excitedly and Jace just waved. I could feel his eyes scanning me appreciatively. I blushed, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks.

I noticed that the two guys had stopped talking and were looking at me for an explanation. "Um, these are my friends, Isabelle and Jace. I hope you don't mind that I invited them, seeing that you two were busy."

I heard a small noise and turned to see Jace suppressing a laugh. "No," the guy, what was his name, said stiffly. "Not at all."

"Well, rat face, you might wanna move your date with rat face two somewhere else, because we need to sit," Jace said smoothly. I couldn't help but smile.

"Excuse me?" the nerd said, standing up to his full height, which was noticeably less than Jace's. Jace was about 6 feet tall so…

"Yes?" Jace said, raising an eyebrow and rolling up his sleeves. The other guy gulped.

"I happen to be on a date with her," he said somewhat weakly.

"Her, who?"

"Um," the guy started, thinking hard, "Cath-"

"Pathetic, you're on a date and you don't know her name? Move, or I move you," Jace warned. Isabelle and I were standing there quietly watching, amused.

The two guys quietly got out of their seat and disappeared. Isabelle and I burst out laughing as Jace sat down and ripped a hunk of break in half and started eating.

"What?" he asked, smiling too. He knew exactly what.

"Oh come on, you know what, Jace," Isabelle said.

"Hey those guys were the epitome of nerd. Little red needed some rescuing."

"You're never gonna say my name are you?" I asked.

"Why, do you really want to hear my melodic voice say your name so you can gush over it the whole night?" Jace asked, smiling slyly.

I made a face at him and he laughed.

"Did you guys even order anything?" Isabelle asked me with concern.

"Nope, he met his friend before we had the chance. The waiter came and the guy just said, later, so I guess the waiter didn't bother to come back till they were done."

"This is the definition of a date gone wrong," Isabelle declared.

"Iz, it wasn't even a date. You go on a date with someone decent, not…this…" he said, waving his hand towards the direction my "date" had left. "Are you sure he wasn't gay?"

Isabelle and I started laughing again. "Jace!" I said, surprised.

"It's a reasonable question."

I rolled my eyes, "Right. And no, he wasn't gay because Maia set me up with him."

"Who's Maia?" Isabelle asked.

"My best friend," I said promptly.

"Some best friend," Jace muttered. "Yo waiter!" Jace beckoned. The startled guy came over to our table.

We ordered our food and gave our menus to the guy. "Jace," Isabelle started as soon as the guy was out of ear shot, "You can't just call a waiter like that in a restaurant like this!"

Of course, him being Jace, just shrugged. Five minutes later, out food arrived.

"Thanks, bro," Jace told the waiter and the waiter smiled. Isabelle's eyes widened as she saw the amount of food we had ordered. She had just ordered a salad.

"How on earth do you guys eat this much food?"

"We're swimmers," Jace and I said at the same time. I blushed, my eyes meeting his and he winked.

In about twenty minutes, we were done devouring our food. We got up, Isabelle and I talking about clothes and Jace flirting with a waitress.

"Did you drive here?" Isabelle inquired. I wish, I thought. He drove at ninety mile per hour.

"No, he picked me up."

"Mkay, we're taking you home." Knowing that there was no point in arguing with Isabelle, I nodded. As we were getting in the car, I got a call from Maia.

"Sup?" I answered.

"Sooooo, how'd it go?" she said excitedly.

"Terrible, thanks to you," I complained. "The guy was a complete nerd and started talking to his nerd friend who he met there, so I was stuck listening to their conversation about MATH!"

"Ay, sorry chica. I didn't know he was a dweeb," she said.

"It's fine."

"So how are you getting home?"

"A couple friends are taking me home."

"Who is it?" Isabelle mouthed.

"Maia," I said.

"What?" she asked from the other line.

"Tell Maia she has no taste in guys." Jace said from the driver's seat. Then suddenly, the car swerved to the left with a sharp turn before straightening out again.

"Hey Isabelle, tell Jace he can't drive," I retorted.

"I can drive. Little red, you need to loosen up. Live o-wn da edge," he said putting on an urban accent.

"Clary, who are you with?" Maia confused voice came through the phone.

"Jace, you know the guy from the bookstore, and his sister." I told her hesitantly.

"Oh my gosh! That really really hot blonde guy who swam?" oh god. I winced at the sound of her screaming through my phone.

"I heard that," Jace smirked.

"Oops. Sorry Clary. And excuse me Jace, sir. I have very good taste in guys," Maia huffed.

"Clearly," Jace muttered.

"I can't believe you two are arguing over my phone!" I exclaimed.

"He started it," Maia said promptly.

"Cute. I'll talk to you later kay?" I told her, trying to end the conversation.

"K, and I want all the details of your date with blondie!"

"Maia, it wasn't a-" but she had already left.

I could hear Jace silently cracking up in the front. I threw my shoe at him and he laughed even harder. I buried my face in my hands and groaned. Oh Maia.


	9. New Boy in Town

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated for a while, I was pretty busy. Sorry. But oh my gosh thank you soooooo much for the reviews! You guys are the best! I just wanted to say that there will be, obviously, Jace/ Clary flirting but I'm not gonna put in like the real relationship stuff until I think the time is right. I want to build their character a bit more and want to wait for them to develop feelings for each other. Like it would be kind of weird if Jace kissed Clary out of the blue, right? I have the story all planned out so thank you for sticking with me!**

New Boy in Town

Clary P.O.V.

"Maia! For the last time it wasn't a date! His sister was there! His sister's the only reason I know him!" I exclaimed, fed up with Maia's claims of me dating Jace.

"Alright, fine, fine, don't have a spazz attack," she mumbled, licking her ice cream bar. We were at home, because, frankly, it was too hot to go outside. The AC was on full blast and almost five fans were on. Whatever, I'll pay extra for the damn electric bill. "But god, he is extremely hot…and I have a boyfriend, Maia shut up. Think Jordan, only Jordan…"

I laughed as Maia scolded herself for thinking about boys other than her boyfriend. "Oh yeah," she began, "I forgot to tell you."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Tell me what?" Maia never forgets to tell me things…well, unless they concern Jordan.

"Jordan and I are driving up to Maine. I'm gonna meet his parents," she said a little timidly. Aha. Bingo. Jordan and she forgot…again. I raised my eyebrows in shock and surprise. "I know! It's a huge deal and I'm freaking out! What if I mess up? What if they don't like me!"

"Oh my gosh Maia! This is awesome! I'm so happy for you! Don't worry, just be yourself. Everyone likes you," I said matter-of-factly. "Wow. I didn't know you and Jordan were that serious."

"We are. I really like him Clary, I might even love him. I don't know…we have to talk things out about how serious we are, and college, oh sweet Jesus, college! What am I going to do?" she panicked.

"Maia, hun, relax. You're going when?"

"Oh," she said sheepishly, "Um, tonight?" WHAT!

"What! Maia how could you forget to tell me? How long?" I asked hurriedly, as if time was suddenly running out.

"I know Clary, I'm sorry! I'm nervous! It's just for the weekend. Then I'm driving back by myself and Jordan's gonna stay for the week, and he'll fly back."

"Alright, fine. It's six; you should get going to Jordan's. Good luck Melody!" I cried, giving her a hug. I knew how much Jordan meant to her and would crush her if it didn't work out.

"Thank you Clary, I love you," she said quietly.

"Aw, I love you too, now go! Jordan's probably waiting for you," I smiled and beckoned for her to go. She gave me a small smile before grabbing her bag and closing my apartment door behind her.

Three hours later I was sitting on the couch, staring at the boring T.V. show blaring in front of me. I was so bored! Me, being me, always needed something to do. I got bored very fast. Then, I decided to draw. I turned off the TV and was just reaching for my sketchpad when I got a call.

Bending over, I grabbed my phone off the coffee table. It was Isabelle.

"Hey, Iz. Wassup?" I greeted.

"Hey Clary. Um, I have to go pick up my little brother from the airport by myself because Alec is somewhere and not picking up and Jace has some stupid swim practice. It's late and I really don't wanna go alone…so you in?" she said anxiously.

"Um," I began, all the information soaking in, "Yeah, sure. I mean I have nothing better to do. I'll be at your house in ten, k?"

"Oh my god, thank you so much Clary!" Isabelle exhaled. I laughed.

"No problem Iz," I said, hanging up.

I quickly pulled on a shirt over my tank top and tied my hair into a ponytail. After a quick glance in the mirror, I grabbed my keys and left for Isabelle's house.

00000000000

I knocked on Isabelle front door and watched it swing open, revealing her cheerful face.

"Hey chica! Come in! We can leave in like ten minutes, I just have to get ready." I stared at her.

"Iz, we're going to the airport. Shorts and a t-shirt are fine," I told her, amused.

"Okay, look. I need to start boyfriend hunting, and believe me, you can find plenty of hot guys at the airport. I gotta look presentable!" she said seriously.

I started laughing as she went inside her room to go change. I flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV, not knowing how long she would take. Oh! Big Bang Theory was on.

I lost track of time and I heard keys being inserted into the door. A second later Jace walked in, his hair still wet. Ooooo it looked so good. When did he not?

He noticed me sitting on the couch. "Hey," he said, with a tone of surprise in his voice.

"Hey," I replied. What, no sarcastic comment following? Weird.

"What are you doing here? Where's Izzy?" he asked, very confused.

"Izzy's changing to go to the airport-" He raised his eyebrows, "I know- and I'm going with her cause apparently you and Alec ditched and she didn't want to go alone."

"Oh yeah, well I was going to ditch, but then again, this is my little brother and I can skip half an hour of practice for him," he said, a smile in his voice. Something told me he loved his brother a lot. I felt a lump rise in my throat. Kyle.

Jace leaned closer to me, examining my face. "You okay?"

"Yeah…I…um, just…my brother...he's not…well…he was," I began, not being able to finish. God I missed him so much. He loved me a lot and was always there for me. We had this special bond and when he died, I felt like a part of me died. I felt tears forming. Crap.

Jace's eyes turned dark. "Kyle… right?" What? How did he know…?"

"Yeah…how do you-" I was cut off by Isabelle bursting into the hall.

"Kay! I'm ready! Let's-" She noticed Jace standing there with his hands in his pockets. "What are you doing here? I thought you were at practice."

"I left a little early. I can't let my little bro down, now can I?"

Isabelle smiled. "I knew you were gonna come somehow." She turned to me. "Not that I like this very much, but Jace is Max's favorite sibling. Now let's go!"

Feeling a bit awkward I said, "So, I should go back home…? I really don't want to interfere…"

"Nah, you came here, just come to the airport with us too," Isabelle said indifferently. "Now quit the chit chat and hussle! We're picking up an 8 year old kid, not some grownup!"

"Whoa, he's 8?" I asked. I was thinking more along the lines of 13-14 years old.

"Yeah why?"

"Oh no reason, let's go." I smiled. I loved little kids. They were so innocent and always spoke their mind. I couldn't wait to meet Max.

We all got into the car and it was silent for the first five minutes. Then Isabelle spoke up. "So did Maia as you about the 'date'?" she giggled.

"Ugh, yes. Today in fact. I kept telling her it wasn't but she wouldn't believe me!" I told her.

"She seems like an interesting person," Isabelle said.

"She is, she wouldn't stop talking about Ja-" I started, and then stopped, realizing that Jace was with us. And he was driving. Face palm.

"Yeeees?" Jace questioned. Crap.

"Jacob. She wouldn't stop talking about Jacob, the new guy on her tennis team," I tried to cover.

Although I couldn't see him, I could tell Jace was grinning. "Little red, darling, you are a horrible liar and I suggest you wouldn't try it again." I stuck my tongue out him like a little kid. "Now tell me, what did she say about me?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I sneered.

"Oh yes I would," Jace said. Ugh he had this weird way of convincing you to tell him something.

"Okay," Isabelle said loudly. "Why does the conversation always end up with you two?"

Neither of us said anything. Then it started again.

"Tell me."

"No."

"Telllll meeee."

"No."

"Pretty please!"

"Still no."

"Hey I never beg, so you should give me a little credit," he pouted.

"Why do you care anyway? You don't know her and she's got a boyfriend, so hands off buddy," I warned him. No way was he going to disrupt Maia's life.

"I wanna know so I can add it to the list of adjectives that describe me and put it in my resume," he smirked.

"Oh yeah? Adjectives like what?" Isabelle stared at me. "What?"

"You did not just ask that question! Now you will have to listen to Jace's huge ego talk for the rest of the drive," she groaned.

"Oh you know," Jace started. Oh crap. "Angel, golden boy, god's gift, Greek god, hottest guy on the planet, smokin' hot, beautiful-"

"Conceited jerk?" I added.

"Hm…nope. Never heard of that one," he said cheekily.

"Well you just did," and we went on arguing like that with Isabelle angrily sitting next to me with her arms crossed until we reached the airport.

Jace parked in the lane where the arrivals were. I could see people hugging, crying, catching up with relatives and loved ones. I felt a weird pain in my heart, knowing I'll never be able to hug my brother…or father…or mother like that ever again.

"Finally!" Isabelle yelled, bursting out the door. "No more of your nonsense!"

"Alright, now where's Max?" Jace asked.

My eyes scanned around the area, looking for a boy around the age of 8. I found a little boy with glasses and chocolate brown hair, sitting on his luggage reading a comic book. A lady in a uniform was standing next to him, holding the sign that read 'Lightwood'.

"Hey you guys, is that him?" I asked, pointing at the boy I saw. The two siblings followed my gaze and they both brightened.

"Yup! That's him!" Isabelle squealed. She started walking quickly up to him and yelled, "Max!" The boy looked up from his book and broke out into a huge grin. He got off his bag and ran to her, yelling her name. Isabelle wrapped him up in a huge hug. I smiled as I watched the cute scene unfold in front of me.

I looked around for Jace. Where was he? Isabelle and Max started walking up to the car where I was sitting inside. "Hey Izzy? Where's Jace?" Max asked his eyes wide.

"Oh," Isabelle faked a sad face, "He couldn't make it, I'm sorry Max."

"Oh, it's ok." The poor kid looked close to tears when he heard that. Awwww. Then out of nowhere Jace jumped out from behind the car.

"Boo!"

"Ahh!" Max screamed. Then smiled, realizing who it was. "Jace! You big bully!" he yelled gleefully, running up to his brother. Jace smiled and picked him up, hugging him to death and ruffling his hair.

"Hey bro! Howya been? Was the flight okay?" It was nice, seeing this protective older brother side of Jace. I quietly got out of the car. Jace then went to where the lady in the uniform was and did some paper work and starting to get his luggage.

He turned around to face me. "Oh hi!" he said. "You must be Clary!" Huh?

"Yeah, I am," I said smiling, "How do you know my name?" I asked.

"Oh, Jace has told me a lot about you over the phone. I guessed you were her because he said you had red hair." I was surprised. Jace talked about me? I did a little inside happy dance. Ah curse you Clary, remember, he's not always sweet.

"Oh yeah? What else did he say?" I asked, leaning down to Max's height.

"Well," he shifted uncomfortably, and dropped his voice to a whisper, "He told me that if I told anyone, then he would send the bad boy monkeys after me." his eyes widened in fright at the mention of them. Awww.

"Guess what?" I told him.

"What?" he asked, curious.

"I can give you my bad boy monkey sword and another big surprise of you tell me."

"Really?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course!" I replied. God he was so adorable, I liked him already.

"Okay, well he said you were the prettiest girl he's ever seen and you're really kicka- donkey at swimming. He also said that you were different from most girls, in a good way."

I blushed. He really said those things about me? Wow. Wait kick-what?

"Max…kick donke- did you mean kickass?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

He smiled shyly. "Yeah, but I'm not supposed to say that word." Could he get any cuter?

Just then Jace came with Max's luggage. "What were you guys talking about?"

"Nothing," we both said quickly. He raised one eyebrow and then disappeared behind the trunk to put the bags away. We both giggled and got into the backseat of the car.

"So Max, you like comic books?" I inquired.

"YEAH! I love them! They are sooo good!" he exclaimed, excited.

"Hm…I just might know what to give you for your surprise," I hinted.

"What surprise?" Jace and Isabelle said.

"Nothing," Max and I said in unison again. And then we started laughing. We both started talking about comic books and our favorite characters. Somewhere in our conversation, I remember blacking out into deep sleep and that's all.

0000000000

I woke up to the unforgettable theme song of SpongeBob playing loudly. I pried open my eyes to find myself in a room I didn't recognize. What was going on? I whipped my head around, trying to figure out where I was.

Jace, who was passing, poked his head into the door frame. "We're not in Kansas anymore!" he mimicked in a high voice, mocking my frenzy.

"Shut up," I said throwing a pillow at his snickering face. He ducked.

"Missed!" he called, going to the living room.

"ARGH!" I exclaimed, fed up with him and heard him laugh even louder.

"Jace, stop annoying the crap out of Clary every time," I heard Isabelle sigh.

"But it's fun!" he whined. "Hey Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz had red hair right? This is getting better and better!"

I groaned, this boy was so annoying! I climbed out of bed and into the living room, grumbling.

"Hey Clary," Max greeted, his eyes glued onto the TV screen.

"Hey Max," I replied, yawning. "How did I get up here? I remember crashing in your car, but not waking up."

Isabelle grinned. "Jace carried you up."

"Yeah," Max piped up. "I asked if I should wake you up, but Jace said that you looked really tired and to let you sleep. Then he offered to carry you upstairs. He's strong."

I grinned, turning around to face Jace. "What?" he snapped, eating a pop tart.

"Nothing. Just…thanks." He waved it off, going to his room.

"Don't mind him," Max said, "He doesn't always do nice things for people. Especially girls." He giggled at the last part.

"Max! Shut up!" Jace yelled from his room. "What happened to bros before hoes?"

Max stood up. "I don't know because you never even told me what a hoe is!" he yelled back to Jace. "Clary? What's a hoe?"

Isabelle and I exploded laughing and started to laugh even harder when we heard Jace mumble, "Oh…my…god."

"Max, a hoe is a term only stupid people use, not smart people like you, okay?" I explained.

"Okay. JACE! CLARY SAID YOU'RE STUPID!" Max hollered.

Isabelle and I erupted into laughter again as Jace stormed out of his room, a smirk playing on his lips. He looked evil. Oh no.

"Max, what do we do to people who are mean?" uh oh, this did not sound good. Max grinned evilly.

"TICKLE MONSTER!" they both yelled. And then I was attacked.

I started laughing, doubling into fits of giggles, tears streaming down my face. "Okay," I giggled, "okay, okay…STOP!" I couldn't control my laughter. "Stop! I'm sorry! Sorry!" I said laughing, gasping for air. Being tickled was a huge weakness of mine. They finally stopped and I lay on the carpet floor.

"That. Was. Evil. Max! You betrayed me!" I said astonished.

"You know what they say! Bros before hoes!" he yelled.

"Yeah! That's my man! High five little dude! Whoo!" Jace yelled, grinning at me showing his dimples.

"Isabelle!" I yelled, pointing to them. She nodded.

"Whatever Clary, leave it alone," she said.

What? She was supposed to take my side!

"Alright, everyone downstairs to the parking lot. We still need to unload Max's bags. Each person grab a bag and come back upstairs." Ugh bossy woman. I started to go with the boys when Isabelle yanked my arm back.

"Ow! What?" I yelled, irritated. She led me to her room and pulled out two massive water guns and grinned.

"We're gonna show the boys not to mess with the girls. Ever."

I grinned at her, our eyes meeting. Time to do one of my most favorite things in the world. Revenge.


	10. Like the Crab, Right?

**Thank you so much for the reviews, you guys are great! Here is the new chapter, sorry it took so long to update! Tell me what you think!**

Like the Crab, Right?

Isabelle and I crept out of the apartment door holding the water guns behind our back. Jace and Max were a flight of stairs ahead of us chatting about who knows what.

"Be careful though. Get them before they unload the bags, we don't want Max's stuff to get wet, you know?" Isabelle whispered.

"Okay, but why are we whispering?" I whispered back. She made a face and I laughed out loud.

We made it all the way down the stairs where Jace and Max were leaning against the car, waiting for Isabelle to open the trunk since she had the keys.

"Hey," Isabelle said, "What was that little rhyme you were telling Clary?"

Jace smirked and Max giggled, "Bros before hoes," Jace drawled lazily, "Now open up."

Ah, the ego of men. I couldn't wait to blast Jace in the face with the gun. "Oh not yet," I said, smirking. Immediately Jace's eyes narrowed.

"What do you have planned?" he asked cautiously.

"Oh nothing special," Isabelle said coolly, "We just wanted to teach you guys another rhyme, since you seem so fond of them."

"What?" Max asked curiously.

"CHICKS BEFORE DICKS!" we yelled together, revealing our water guns.

"What's a di-AHHHH!" Max yelled, getting a face full of water. We were like an unstoppable machine pumping water towards our defenseless enemies.

"Dammit! I knew you two were up to something in the apartment!" Jace yelled furiously. "Oh this is SO not over little red."

I smiled sweetly at him, cocking my head to the side. Jace shook his head, wet hair flying. Then he started walking towards the side of the building. I didn't realize what he was doing until I saw him holding a long green rope. A hose. Jace grinned evilly.

"Shit! Isabelle!" I yelled frantically.

"What?" she called, squirting a squealing Max. She saw where I was pointing and her eyes widened. "Crap Jace! Not fair!"

"Hey you guys started it," he said calmly. The next thing I knew was a giant splash of unbearably cold water. What. The. Freaking. Hell!

"Jace! Stop! IT"S SO COLD! ARGH! I'm soaked!" I glared at him, my red hair plastered to my face.

"Yeah? Well I am too!" As if a lightbulb appeared in his mind, he started ginning again.

"Oh great, now what?" I said, irritated.

"You know Ariel, being a mermaid, don't you belong in the water?" he said innocently.

"Nooo," I said, scared of what he was planning.

"Oh I think you do." He walked towards me, and I started to slowly back up. He made a quick step towards me and I quickly backed up. Then we were suddenly playing tag. I started tearing down the parking lot with Jace hot on my heels. He, of course, was faster.

I squealed as he picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Put me down!" I yelled as he walked to I don't know where snickering. I wriggled in his grasp ad I heard the creak of a gate open. Was this the po-

He then took me off his shoulder and threw me into THE POOL! I was completely submerged in water before coming up to take a breath. Jace was laughing his head off at my very angry face. "What the hell Jace!" I exclaimed, wading through the water. "Okay fine, you've had your laugh, now help me up!" I demanded.

He stuck out a hand and I was surprised he fell for it. I gripped his hand firmly and felt sparks shoot up my arm. He probably felt it too because his expression changed. I took this chance and yanked his hand as hard as I could.

I caught him off balance and the next thing was him falling into the pool beside me. It was now my turn to laugh. "Clary what the f-" he glanced at Max sitting there laughing, "fudge!" he finished.

"Nice save," I told him.

"Seriously?" he asked, gesturing at the pool around us.

"Oh now it's MY fault?" I said, still laughing.

"Will you guys EVER stop acting like immature kids?" Isabelle huffed, now standing next to the gate.

"He started it."

"She started it."

We were both pointing at each other like brothers caught by their mother.

"CANNONBALL!" Max hollered as he plummeted into the pool. Isabelle groaned while Jace and I exploded laughing.

"NO one is going inside like this. Wait here and I'm gonna bring towels for the three of you," Isabelle grumbled.

"Thanks Iz!" I shouted after her retreating figure. I got out of the pool, squeezing the water out of my tank top. I heard the gate creak open again and saw Sebastian walking in with a towel slung over his shoulder.

"Clary! Hey!" Sebastian greeted.

"Hey Seb! What's up?" I said cheerfully.

"Just came for a swim, what are you doing here? Not that I mind," he added, grinning.

"You know, Seb, I don't even know. I always end up here," I said laughing. It was true.

"That's not a problem at all, rather good."

"Yeah, why is that?" I asked, trying to get something out of his flirting.

"I like being around you," he said quietly. AWWWW! I started grinning like mad when I heard someone clear their throat.

"Hey Sebastain," Jace said rather coldly.

"Hey man, sup?"

"This is my brother Max. Max, this is Sebastian."

"Like the crab from the Little Mermaid?" Max asked.

Oh my god, I just realized. Time to put Jace in a sticky spot.

Jace snickered. "Yeah, Max."

"Hey Jace, what's your nickname for me again?"

"Little red, you should know that by now."

"No the other one," I said innocently.

"Ariel…" Jace's eyes turned dark, as if sensing where this was going.

"Yeah, Ariel. You know Max, Ariel and Sebastian were best friends right?" I asked sweetly.

"Yup," Max confirmed.

"I can see that happening," Sebastian smiled.

"Yeah, and I can see Izzy with our towels. Sorry man, gotta go. See you around," Jace sneered. What was his problem?

Max and I followed him and got the towels from Isabelle.

"What took you so long?" Jace asked her.

"I couldn't find them sorry your highness," she mocked. "We need to get you home Clary, so hurry up."

We started to walk to the building and I ran up to catch up with Jace. "What, is your problem?" I demanded.

"What do you mean?" he said, not looking at me.

"You know exactly what I mean. Sebastian's a nice guy, why do…like, not like it when I talk to him?" I said uncomfortably.

He looked at me with intense golden eyes. "Clary," he said softly, "He's not a nice guy. It might sound weird but I'm trying to keep him away from you and Izzy. You should hear what he talks about in the locker room during practice. He hooks up with a different girl almost every day. I don't want you guys to be one of his toys."

I didn't say anything and he continued walking up the stairs without a word. We all went inside the apartment and I gathered my bag, getting ready to leave. Isabelle grabbed her keys and opened the door. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I said. She walked out of the apartment. I started to follow, but then stopped. I walked down the hall and peered into Jace's room. He was sitting at his desk, on the computer.

"Jace?"

He looked up. "Yeah?"

"Thanks…for, you know."

"No problem Clare," he smiled.

Clare. I liked the sound of that.


	11. Back to Reality

**Suuuuup people? Thank you again for you reviews! AWSOMELY SUPER UBERLY FANTASTICO! I would love to hear your feedback on the chapters.**

**IMPORTANT NOTE PERTAINING TO STORY: Okay, so far the chapters have been cutsie with Jace's arrogant, cocky but cute attitude and the little flirts with Clary. I'm going to make the story a little more…dramatic, so to speak. Not because I think it has no depth, because that's the direction I had planned the story in. I am going to bring in Clary's past and Jace's not so cute "playerish" ways. Thank you for all the support love u all!**

Back to Reality

I groaned as I glanced at my calendar. This was the last week of summer vacation, great. Maia still hadn't come back from Maine and I was bored. Work wasn't any fun without her. I know what you might say, work is not supposed to be fun, but with Maia, it is.

We would goof around, be weird and laugh our heads off when people stared. And we were proud of it. Sighing, I realized it was actually time to go to work. Oh joy. I grabbed my uniform and put it on, inhaling the smell of coffee. I worked at Starbucks and I really liked it there.

I'm not much of a coffee drinker but I just love the scent. It makes me feel so…cozy, you know? After changing, I grabbed my phone and keys off the table and went down the stairs. I had gotten into my car and got a text from Maia.

_Hey! I'm rlly sry I haven't been txting u but im staying in maine for another 2 weeks. K?_

_**WHAT? Another two weeks? Y? ur gonna miss skool**_

_I no. its for skool reasns. Theres a giant tennis tournament going on and scarlen wants me 2 go. Sry clary! Rlly!_

_**K its cool. Have fun chica! Gtg to work, so excitd! XD**_

_Ew work,ull survive, jordans calling, gtg luv ya bye!_

_**Luv ya 2, by!**_

Yay. Another two weeks. My day was getting worse by the minute. I entered the shop, waving at my boss before going to my station. Countless people came in, placed their orders and I gave them their drinks with a fake smile as usual. I glanced at the clock on the wall. Only an hour left to go. Yes!

I propped my arm on the counter, drumming my fingers. The busy crowd had left and business was slow. Then a tall guy around my age walked in. He had jet black hair and chocolate brown eyes. He was tan, wearing a grey Black Ops shirt and cargo shorts. I slowly got up, knowing that I would have to take his order.

"Hi what can I get you?" I asked.

"Um, black coffee, like my soul," he winked. I gasped. No way.

"SIMON?" I yelled, earning a few glares.

He chuckled, "Yeah who did you think I was?"

"Oh my god. Okay, first of all, you've grown like a foot-over the SUMMER. Second, you're all tan. Third, you glassed are gone. Fourth, you're all toned and muscle. You've had like an extreme make over. What did you DO in Hawaii?" I blurted.

He grinned slyly. "Yeah, I got contacts, genius. I went to Hawaii, don't expect me to return pale and my dad did some like intense running workout for me every single day."

I couldn't believe this was my dorky Simon. "You just wait, the girls will be crawling all over you at Linhale."

"Don't you mean Scarlen?" he asked. What was he talking about? He didn't go to Scarlen.

"Si, you don't go to Scarlen."

"Yeah I do now. I got accepted into their track team," he said shyly.

I was speechless. "OH MY GOD! Okay, who are you and what have to done to Simon Lewis?"

He laughed at my state of shock. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to look at my coworker Lisa.

"Boss is ending shift one hour early for everyone for some reason. We can go." She smiled. I did too. YAY! I can spend time with Simon!

"Kay, thanks Lisa."

"Uh, what happened to my coffee?" simon asked.

I rolled my eyes and quickly brewed him some black coffee.

"Here, happy?"I snapped.

"Delighted," he replied. We sat down at a table and chatted. He told me all about Hawaii and of course the hot girls there. Sometime later, I noticed a blonde someone walk in the café with another blond someone. Jace and Kaelie. What the hell was she doing here, she hates coffee. And what the hell was she doing with HIM? Are they…GOING OUT?

"Hey isn't that Kaelie?" Simon asked.

"Yep, Queen Bitch. God she still taunts me about being short."

"You're not short, you're five seven. Shes only like an inch taller than you," Simon protested.

Aw, I love him. Not love him as in romantically, god don't get me wrong. Him, me and Maia were best friends for life.

"I know, but that's Kaelie for you," I grumbled.

"Who's blonde boy?" he said, gesturing to Jace.

"New kid. Jace. He's got a sister and a brother. His sister's a really good friend of mine. You'd like her."

Simon waved that off and opened his mouth to say something. He closed his mouth, noticing that Jace and Kaelie were walking towards us.

"Finally found time to say hi?" I questioned.

Jace started to speak but Kaelie interrupted him. "Why would we wanna say hi to you?" she screeched.

"Then why is your artificial face right in front of me?" I snapped. Simon clamped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from cracking up.

"We need someone to make us coffee," Jace said smoothly, glancing at my uniform. What was wrong with him? Did he not realize that I was the girl who he teased and annoyed the shit out of all the time? I mean he never acted like he didn't know me before…

"Sorry, she's not your slave. It would be best if you left us alone," Simon growled.

Jace raised his eyebrows. "Tell your boyfriend here to calm down or I'll tell your manager you're not doing your job properly." What was his problem?

"Go ahead, I'm sure she'll be delighted to tell you that my shift is over. Simon is not my boyfriend. Just because he can counter your over-inflamed ego doesn't mean anything. Now if you and bimbo here could excuse us, we'll be leaving. Come on Si."

I grabbed his arm and walked out of the café without another word.

"Jerk alert."

"You think? It's weird that I thought he was actually a decent guy," I huffed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well we hung out a lot over the summer. I mean it was me, his sister and him, but he was nice. He could be cocky and arrogant, but nice too. I guess these are his true colors after realizing he couldn't toy with me. And he said he was "protecting" me from Sebastian. That jerk. He has no right to tell me who I can talk to and who I can't. Who does he think he is? And now hes going out with Kaelie? Out of all girls, he goes with super slut. You know, I should have known that I guy with a pretty boy face like his would always turn out like that," I rambled.

"Wanna go get some yogurt?" Simon offered. Cracking a smile, I agreed and nodded. I had missed Si.

My alarm beeped annoyingly in my ear. I rubbed my eyes, the blurry red numbers coming into focus. Then I remembered; it was the first day of school. I climbed out of bed sluggishly and went inside the bathroom to brush my teeth.

I was ready in about an hour. I pulled on a pair of white shorts and a pretty blue top and did my hair into a French braid. Ten minutes later I was pulling into the school parking lot. There were students pouring in from all sides, little groups huddled around the bike racks and picnic tables.

I noticed a waving hand and realized it was Isabelle. I walked up to her.

"Hey!" she said brightly.

"Hi!" I greeted.

"Oh my gosh, I love this school already! The condition is great! AND there are soooo many cute guys!" she squealed.

"Yeah I know right. Maia eats me alive about not having a boyfriend."

"Psh, yeah. Why don't you have one? There seems to be plenty interested," she said, looking at the boys who were staring at us. I blushed. I felt my phone buzz and looked to see a text from Simon.

_Hey wer r u?_

_**Near the white picnic tables**_

_K ,I c u._

I waved and Simon walked over to the two of us.

"Izzy, this is my other best friend Simon. Simon, this is Izzy."

"Um…hi, I'm um, Simon," he said nervously, gazing at her.

She smiled, "Izzy. I'm new here."

"Yeah Clary told me about you. I'm new to the school too. I just got accepted into the track team," he said a little proudly.

"No way! Me too! My brother got in for swimming. Come on, let's go find the coaches. We can get lost together!" Isabelle said enthusiastically, grabbing Simon's arm. I laughed, knowing they would hit it off.

I looked at my schedule that I had printed off the website. Homeroom 238. I knew exactly where that was because I had math there last year. They probably switched around the rooms. I walked in and the first thing I saw was Jace with his arm around Kaelie snickering with a bunch of other swim team guys. Just great.

I plopped my stuff down on my desk, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Suddenly I heard a large squeal and looked up to see Nicole rushing towards me and hugging me. I started to squeal too. I felt all eyes on my but I didn't care.

"Oh my god we're in the same homeroom!" she yelled.

"YAY!" I squealed, so happy that one of my greatest friends was in my homeroom. Thank god.

"Hey, it's that really hot swim team guy with…the bitch? That is so…you know, I kinda expected that."

Something told me Jace was listening. "You bet."

"You know him right?" she asked.

"I thought I did. I guess not," I said, gesturing to Kaelie. His intense eyes bored into mine for a second and then looked away, regaining his cool composure.

"Whatever, I am totally gonna make sure you get that Sebastian guy. He's not as hot…but he's got the personality!" she gushed.

I smiled. "Dude, you totally like him." She blushed.

"OMG YOU DO! Ok, I'm gonna set YOU up with him!" I teased.

We laughed and talked for the rest of homeroom together. I figured that Jace had been a fleeting part of me life and I shouldn't be bothered by his change of behavior and just let go.

But there was still something tugging him back.


	12. An Invisible String

**OMG! I GOT 103 REVIEWS! YOU GUYS ARE THE MOST AMAZING PEOPLE EVER! **

**Omg, you do not know HOW MUCH THIS MEANS TO ME! literally, I was, and still am jumping up in down in my room. After I read all of them I was like I HAVE TO UPDATE, so here I am, at like 11:30 p.m. after the play, updating this chapter! Seriously I am soooooo happy! So so so so happy! Thank you so much! I love you guys!**

**Thank you to my regular reviewers:**

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**And gosh there are so many other ones I cant write them all.**

**AND MY NEW ASWUM REVIEWERS WHOM I LOVE:**

**BlackVenom and Danger Star **

**I LOVE YOU!**

**And to clear up for shiningbrightasthestars: Jace isn't really a player, but he is. He doesn't do bad things with girls if you know what I mean…okay I'll just say it, he doesn't screw girls. BUT he does charm them and make them fall for him and then be like GIRL I don't give a DAMN bout u. So ya XD. **

**Sorry for not updating sooner, I was sick **

**THANK YOU AGAIN, NOW TO THE CHAPPIE! TELL ME WHAT U THINK!**

An Invisible String

By the time my alarm flipped out on the second day of school, I was already wishing for summer vacation. This was going to be a long year. Trudging out of bed, I lazily got ready for another day of ickiness.

I barely made it into homeroom on time. I slid into my seat just as the bell rang, breathing heavily.

"Tardyyyyy," Nicole said annoyingly.

"Shut uuuuuup," I retorted.

"What took so long? You're never usually late."

"I don't know, I was just tired and I got ready really slowly so….yeah," I drawled. I couldn't help but look at Jace sitting in the back of the room with his "jock" friends and Kaelie.

"Hello? God, Clary don't tell me you like him," Nicole said in a worried tone.

I ran a hand through my hair. "I don't. It's just that I'm confused. I mean he actually talked to me and was decent to me in the summer and then boom sudden change as school starts."

"That's what he does Clary," said a new voice. I turned around and noticed that Isabelle was right behind me.

"Izzy? Since when are you in this homeroom?" I questioned, very confused.

"Since today. My homeroom has like nobody I know, so I asked to get moved to this one," she said matter-of-factly. I started cracking up and she looked at me funnily.

"Iz, do you expect to know people on the second day of school, where you're NEW? Hun, sorry to burst your bubble but it doesn't work that way," I said, patting her hand.

She yanked her hand away and sat in the seat next to mine. "Back to the matter at hand. Clary, I should make this clear. Jace is not who you think he is. I mean yeah, at the beginning I thought you guys had something special, but then Jace reverted back to his normal self again."

"I don't get it. Why would anyone do this?" I asked. What really was the point of breaking hearts?

"Jace wasn't exactly the most popular kid in elementary and middle school. He got made fun of and bullied because he was adopted and called my parents by their first names instead of mom and dad. Then as he got older, his features kicked in and he was smoking hot and he took advantage of that and became…you know," Isabelle explained.

"At least he has a family…" I muttered. I watched in disgust as Kaelie leaned in to kiss Jace. The bell rang as soon as their lips were about to touch. A quick expression of relief flashed across his face as if saying 'saved by the bell, literally.'

I looked at my schedule. Yay, I had drama first. Even though this was a sports school, we still did arts. I walked into the auditorium, curious to see who else was in my class. Everyone was gathered on the stage waiting for the rest to arrive. I looked around for familiar faces and saw very few; just some people I knew from last year.

Then I heard the loud laughing of some girl. In walked Kaelie with who? It should be obvious by now. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? The power couple just HAD to be in one of my favorite classes.

The class quieted after the teacher walked out, Mr. Wendell. "Hey guys, welcome to drama. I know this is not one of the strongest points for some people, but that is what we are here for; to improve that. Drama is all about expression. Think of what the character would do, and do it. Don't hold back. Alright we are going to start with some ABC improv. Um…Clary, Kaelie, you're up. You are….arguing over a boy. Go."

Shit. I walked up to the center. "Someone give me a letter," said.

Jace raised his hand, "X."

"Alright, we are a little lenient with this one, Clary you know what to do. Go."

"Exactly what were you doing with him Saturday? He's mine!" I started.

"You shouldn't care, because Jace is my boyfriend!" she yelled. Wow does she not get that this is improv? Mr. Wendell raised his eyebrows and signaled to continue.

"Zebras! …would make a better girlfriend then you," I stuttered, while everyone laughed at my "comedy".

"Actually, no they wouldn't."

"Bullsh-crap! He doesn't even like you!"

"Creeper!" she yelled. Fail.

"Doorknobs are smarter than you," I countered.

"Even Jace agrees I'm prettier than you."

"Funny, really. That crap you call makeup isn't helping."

"Go…! Die in a hole!"

"Hole…I don't see one."

"I don't care."

"Just stop, witty comebacks are not your thing," I laughed. That was good. Uh huh.

"Kangaroos are." Her stupidity amused me.

"LOSER."

"My boyfriend doesn't think I am."

"No, he does."

"NO HE LOVES ME!" she yelled.

"Ohhh, the next letter was 'o'! Sorry Kaelie, you lost this one. Next time. Nice job Clary," our teacher interrupted.

Kaelie moved to the back of the room with Jace with a smug smile on her face. Jace looked irritated. I saw him pull out a piece of paper, scribble on it and then pass it to her. Her expression changed from smug to shocked. Ding ding ding. We have a break-up in session.

I saw them argue-whisper back and forth until Kaelie started to cry and left the room. Jace looked unfazed.

I rolled my eyes as the teacher continued to speak about character. Jace must have noticed me staring because he winked. I felt heat creep up to my cheeks, but glared at him. He is totally NOT who I thought he was.

45 minutes later, the bell rang. I gathered my things and left the auditorium into the crowded hallway. Suddenly I heard my "name" being called.

"Hey little red, wait up!"

I kept walking but of course, he caught up. "What do you want?" I snarled.

"Ooh, someone's being a little feisty," he grinned.

"Seriously, what?" I sighed.

"I was wondering if you had plans Friday night. We-"

"OH please. Now that you've broken up with your two-day girlfriend because she's a dipwad, you're coming to me? I'm not one of the pawns in your game, Jace. Maybe I thought you actually had some depth over the summer, but seems like popularity is more valuable to you. It would be best if you left me alone," I snapped.

"So you were jealous," he said. The nerve of him!

"Of what?"

"Kaelie."

I laughed humorlessly, "Oh yeah, totally."

"Alright, but you're turning down the chance of a life time," he said calmly.

"Oh that's too bad," I huffed and sped up down the hall. Who did he think he was after treating me like a nobody, to ask me out?

Jace P.O.V.

I watched her speed down the hallway angrily. She seemed to be really pissed off. Whatever, I could always find another girl. They're all dying to go out with me anyway.

I was frustrated. I didn't like doing this, but I was angry. Angry at all those people who thought I was a piece of crap without parents. This was showing them who I am now. The king of the school.

Yeah I feel a little bad for Clary, hell I hated my behavior with her from the coffee shop to now, but I had to do it. I don't like it, but something pulls me to her. An invisible string and I intend on cutting it.

As I walked past the entrance to the pool, coach called my name.

"Hey Wayland, how's it going?"

"Good, Coach, what's up?"

"Alright, Clary is going to a meet in Australia in two weeks. She is fast, definitely, but I need to make her the bloody best they've ever seen. For that I need you. You have a 2 hour training session with her on Friday, 6:00 pm, here. Got it?"

Wow, so I ended up spending my Friday night with her anyway. Yay? I'm not sure.

"Sure coach, I'll be there," I told her and continued to class.

LINE BREAK

Clary P.O.V.

Just great. I had to spend freaking two hours with Jace today, how fun.

I had pulled on my swimsuit under my clothes and was now driving to school for my training session. I didn't need one anyway! I was already the best girl in the country! But NO.

Parking my car, I slid out, walking towards the doors. I went to the locker room and stripped down to my suit. I grabbed my goggles and headed out the locker door to the pool. He wasn't there so I figured he was at the outdoor pool.

I went there and he was sitting on the edge, his shirt off, his feet dangling in the water. He looked extremely handsome in the twilight light of the evening, the pool lights reflecting off his hair and skin.

He looked up and me and grinned, flashing his million dollar smile.

"Ready to work?"


	13. Resurfacing

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for the reviews! I really appreciate it, keep em coming! Here is the new chapter. I put in some background and character into this chapter. Please tell me what you think! Thank you!**

**Okay, so I read Danger Star's review and I agree with you. So I'm gonna go in and change it. Please tell me what you think!**

Resurfacing

My eyes narrowed. "I can take anything you dish out, Wayland." (This is a line I took from Oh My Gods. I liked it so I put it in there XD)

He looked amused. "Hm…okay. Hop in and do a 50 free warm up. Then we'll get to the good stuff."

I scowled at him and sat on the ledge, easing myself into the water. Damn it was cold. Why did he have to choose the outdoor pool? I hopped up and down, wincing when the cold water hit my dry stomach. Jace moved closer to me.

"Cold?" he whispered in my ear. From the corner of my eyes I could see his beautifully sculpted chest and shoulders. The arch of his back rippling with strength when he moved.

I gulped. "I-I'm fine." Bracing myself, I plunged into the water, my mind screaming from the cold. Alright, I was good now. I pushed off the wall and did a nice and easy 50 free, meeting Jace back where we had started.

"Clary, what's wrong? You seem uptight about something," Jace said, his voice full of concern. Since when did he care about me? Oh right, his school friends weren't around.

"Jace, this isn't right. You act like a jerk to me at school and then when we're alone, you act genuine. That's not how it's supposed to work. Is it my fault you're adopted?" I yelled.

His eyes darkened as if he was remembering his past. "Who told you?" he hissed.

"Uh, um…Iz-Isabelle," I stammered. He looked mad.

"Forget it, let's just get this stupid thing over with. Two hours with you isn't my idea of an ideal Friday night," he growled.

Though a little hurt by his words, I went along, not wanting this any more than he did.

He made me do a couple 500's then 200's then 100's of each stroke. I was downright tired by the end.

Panting, I reached the wall, so happy that it was finally five minutes to 8. I started to get out of the water, when he grabbed my wrist.

"One more thing," he said with a mischievous smile on his face.

Groaning, I slid back into the pool. "Whaaat."

"We still haven't finished that 100 race." Oh no. I really did not want to race right now. Against him. No.

"No, Jace. I'm tired and I want to go hooome," I whined. He laughed, pulling me closer to him.

"Afraid you're going to lose?" he asked tauntingly.

"Never."

"Then race me." Pride built up in me and I decided to show him what this girl was like when she raced.

"You're on."

We both took our position, ready to push off at my mark. I knew he was dying to see who was faster and it was evident that he was going to win. But it was worth the shot.

"On your mark, set, go!" We pushed off the wall with tremendous force, whirling through the water like a jet. It was now or never. My arms worked like a machine, never slowing down, just plunging forward.

When the first 50 was over, my arms were starting to ache, just the tiniest bit. I groaned as I realized that Jace was three strokes ahead of me. Gaining strength, I went faster, trying to catch up to his speed. Man he moved like nobody's business.

His hand hit the wall about 5 seconds before mine. I came up for air.

"Damn it!" I yelled, splashing my fist into the water, breathing hard.

"Why are you upset? That's the best damn race I've seen a girl swim!" he panted.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

"I actually had to push myself to win. You put up a good fight. I wouldn't worry about the meet in Sydney if I were you," he said.

I felt myself smile. "Thanks," I whispered. He just nodded.

"You can go now. It's eight," Jace informed me, his eyes avoiding my gaze.

"Jace, seriously what's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing's wrong…I just…what you told me…who else knows?" he asked.

"Jace, there's nothing wrong with what happened to you. Why can't you just make real friends and stop thinking and acting like you're the king of the school? There's no need to pretend like you care and be a jerk," I told him.

Jace glared at me and then he snapped.

"Clary, I don't need people sympathizing for me okay? No one knows how it feels to watch your parents DIE when you're four years old! Then, before you know it, a month later, you're stuck into some foster family when you're not even over what happened. On top of that, people make fun of you at school for being a loser and having no real parents! Clary, stop trying to pry into me and try to change me and all that crap. Leave me alone! I'm fine the way I am!" he yelled.

I stared, taken aback by his outburst. Without me intending, I felt tears form in my eyes. Who did he think he was, having no family?

"Jace, don't you dare tell me I don't know how it feels. My whole family, including my brother, died in a car crash! And you're telling me I don't know how it feels? I had no one, not even a foster home with amazing siblings like Alec, Izzy and Max. Do you even know how jealous I was to see you guys so close? Despite having all this you're telling me I don't know? You have no right to tell me that!" I said between tears.

"Shut up Clary! My parents were stabbed to death and I had to WATCH THEM die! You're crying over a stupid car crash?" he shouted.

"Stupid car crash? My whole life was destroyed by that 'stupid car crash'! You're even worse than I thought you were! Don't even talk to me again!" I cried. I ran into the girls locker room sobbing, letting the tears fall.

He was such a jerk! Did he even have a heart? His words echoed in my ears, piercing my heart a little harder each time. I swore to myself never to even look at him again.

I went into the showers, letting the hot water run over me, taking my sorrows with it into the drain. I stood there, drowning in my grief, the memories washing over me. I used to cry myself to sleep in my apartment, living alone. I felt so lonely, vulnerable, scared.

Maia was the only person who took me out of that grief. She was my whole family, always being there for me. If she hadn't come to me, I wondered what would have happened. I wouldn't be here. Suicide was a common thought that crossed my mind when I first learned of the death.

Maia saved me, but for how long it was going to last I didn't know. I was broken and putting the pieces back together was a task I deemed impossible.


	14. He Was a Dead Man

**Hey guys, I felt kinda bad for not updating soon enough, even though I had a hectic week of swimming practice lol. So, here is the new chapter! Please review for both chapters 13 and 14, thanks!**

He's a Dead Man

Jace P.O.V.

Okay, I admit it. I felt a little bad for making Clary cry like that. The guilt deepened when I saw her Saturday morning at Starbucks, her eyes red and puffy. But my parents had died too, in a much more horrible way than hers. I got angry at her thinking that she was the only one shattering on the inside.

I may put a fake front to stay on top of the social status, but just like her, I was tormented each night, the scene of my bloody parents being played over and over again in front of my eyes.

I couldn't let her get to me like this. I couldn't let her see my bad side, or I will be forever destroyed. Being bitter to her was way better than softening up and letting all my years of hard work climbing the social ladder go down the drain. I had to stop.

Clary P.O.V.

My morning at work was sluggish. I saw Jace enter the shop. His eyes fell on me then quickly looked away, exiting the café. He deserved to feel bad by what he said to me last night. The son of a-

"Hey Clary! Wassup! Claryyy, C dawg! Little red? Arielll…there's a spider in your hair. Clary! YOU'RE SPILLING COFFEE ON ME!"

I snapped of my zone out, and looked at the shrieking person. "Where? I'm so sorr-"

"Sebastian?" I asked, looking at the grinning brown-haired boy, spotless of coffee.

"Man, you were really zoning out weren't you?" he said, amused.

"Yeah, sorry. Rough morning," I muttered.

"Tell me about it. Hey when do you get off?" Sebastian asked.

"Um, in like ten minutes, why?" Was he going to ask me out? No. he wouldn't. Would he?

"Maybe we could hang out. Grab lunch. You in?" he asked a little nervously. I found myself grinning like an idiot.

"Yeah sure. That would be great!" I agreed. Yay! I was so excited.

Ten minutes later, I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and headed out with Sebastian in a loose t-shirt and shorts.

"So where do you wanna go?" Sebsatian asked.

"Hm…I don't know. How about…Panera? They have good sandwiches."

He nodded, "To Panera we go." I giggled and he smiled at me. He didn't seem like a player, but I felt just the tiniest bit unsettled with him. Those dark eyes were scary.

"Here's my car." Wow. It was a sleek black Mercedes with blue lights.

"Daaaamn, nice ride, man," I said, sounding like such a boy. I couldn't help it, I had a tomboy side.

"Thaaanks, bro," he said, mocking me.

I slapped his arm. "Shut up." He laughed. We climbed in and made small talk all the way to Panera. As soon as we entered, I could smell the delicious scent of freshly baked bread.

"Mmm…" My stomach rumbled right on cue.

"Someone's a little hungry," Sebastian teased.

"Little? Ah screw it, someone give me food!" I exclaimed. I got weird when I was hungry. Don't ask. Sebastian laughed and we walked over to a small table for two after ordering.

"So Clary, tell me about yourself," he said. Ah, the common request.

"Well," I began, "I was born in California on October 14. Um, swimming is my life. I can be such a boy sometimes, which you already know. I have two best friends, Maia and Simon. That's about it…"

"Family…?" he asked.

"They're uh…not around. What about you?" I asked quickly.

Jace P.O.V.

Not wanting to stay at Starbucks, I had gone to get some gas for my car and then headed to Panera. They have good sandwiches. Isabelle was supposed to meet me there.

As soon as I entered, there sitting was Clary and Sebastian, laughing and chatting. I felt an involuntary reaction as my fists began to ball up and my jaw clenched. Normally, I wasn't a hot-tempered person. On the contrary, I'm quite calm. But seeing him with Clary made my blood boil for some reason.

Shit, Wayland. I've got it bad. I don't want to care for her. I don't want to be around her. I don't want to give a damn about her but apparently my wishes don't comply with how I feel. Swallowing my conflicted feelings, I walked up to the girl behind the counter to order what I wanted.

"Sir, could you please hurry up, we have a busy hour- oh hello," she said looking at me. I smirked. These girls always fell for my undeniably handsome features.

She smoothed down her hair and apron and put on a smile. "What number can I get for you?" she asked a bit shyly, indicating the menu board with a number for each sandwich.

"Hm…I don't seem to see your name on there. Is it possible I can get yours?" I said smoothly. This was so easy. Just turn on the charm.

The girl turned red and started to giggle. Ah screw the flirting, I was HUNGRY. "Besides that, I would like number 23, thanks," I said winking. The girl nodded and quickly went back whispering to her girl co workers about me.

Clary P.O.V.

As I was talking to Sebastian, my gaze fell on a blonde boy flirting with the girl behind the counter. I soon realized it was Jace. What the hell was he doing here? Was he following me? No, he was trying to avoid me this morning. Pushing him out of my mind I tried to focus on my conversation with Sebastian.

Jace P.O.V.

While waiting for my food…and Isabelle, I got bored. Clary and Sebastian were taunting me. I couldn't stand the sight of that player. He's been here for 3 months tops and he's probably slept with every girl on the swim team. Now he was after Clary. Suddenly, a memory clicked.

Didn't Clary's friend Nicole have a crush on Sebastian? And here…Clary was with him. How upset would poor Nic be if she saw her friend with the boy she likes? I grinned and pulled out my phone. I scrolled down the contacts until I found SWIM GROUP. I clicked on it and found the name I was looking for.

Nicole. Bingo.

Clary P.O.V.

I climbed out of Sebastian's car waving goodbye before I headed towards my apartment. I had fun today. Sebastian was a nice guy. Suddenly, my phone vibrated. A text message from Nicole.

_Hope you had fun with Sebastian today. Nice to know what kind of friends I have._

Oh no. How did she find out? I frantically texted her back.

**What are you talking about? We just went for lunch! It wasn't a date! Nic I swear, I would never do that to you!**

I waited anxiously for her reply but it never came. Shit! She was such a good friend, I didn't want to lose her. Damn it!

It was Sunday night and I had called and texted Nicole a billion times already but there was no answer.

Monday morning I waited for Nicole in homeroom hoping to clear up the confusion. As soon as I saw her spiky blonde hair I stood in front of her. "Nic we need to talk."

She walked right past me and I followed her. "Nic please don't ignore me, it's not want you think!" I pleaded.

"What's not what I think? That you were on a date with Sebastian after you KNEW that I liked him? What kind of friend are you?" she hissed.

"I swear it wasn't a date! He came to Starbucks and asked if we wanted to grab lunch and I said yes! It wasn't a big deal, it was spontaneous!" I cried.

"People don't hold hands unless they're on a date!" she exploded. What? We never held hands! He did put his hand over mine for a second when I gave a little detail about my family, but that was it.

"We never held hands!"

"Then explain this!" she shoved her phone in my face, a picture of me with Sebastian's hand over mine.

"Nic you don't understand! Where did you even get that?" I asked desperately.

"It doesn't matter! All I know is that you're a filthy, boy-stealing bitch! Don't talk to me!" she shouted and shoved past me. I stood there in shock.

I saw her stop where Jace was. "Thank you, Jace, for letting me know who my true friends are," she told him, throwing one last glare at me over her shoulder. I felt steam come out of my ears.

Jace. Was. A. Dead. Man.


	15. Pink is a Manly Color

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Pink is a Manly Color

Clary P.O.V.

Jace was handsome, Jace was popular, Jace was athletic and I know this is surprising but Jace was also one of the smartest kids at Scarlen. He had a troubled past but so did I. He had no idea what he doing to me, I was breaking, but I wasn't going to let him see that. I was going to show him not to mess with Clarissa ever again.

Right after school I was walking to swim practice. It was co-ed, again. My mind was still blank of how to get back at Jace. I sighed as I walked into the girl locker room, murmering to myself.

"Hey Clary," my friend Lindsey greeted.

"Hey," I said dully.

"Something wrong?" she asked and suddenly I realized who I was talking to.

I quickly went and sat down next to her, dropping my voice to a whisper. "I need your help for getting even with someone."

She smirked, "Honey you have come to the right person. Spill." I told her, in vague details, of how Jace had separated me and Nicole.

"Jace? You mean the incredibly hot new guy?" she asked in disbelief. I nodded. "Well he's a boy. Steal his clothes. Easy."

"No, I want something hard. Something he'll remember," I said, grinning. I felt like a villain.

"I'm pretty sure he'll remember not having anything to wearrr," she said raising an eyebrow.

"He'll just borrow someone else's. Remember, he runs this place. We need to attack where it will hurt."

"Wait wait wait. You said he got mad when you and Sebastian went out for lunch right? He gets jealous of you two. Alright, I got the scoop on this guy. He's on the top, he wants the sort of player image, but really he has conflicted feelings for you. He likes you, but is kind of scared to admit it. He also dislikes you for being able to match him and not falling for his god worthy looks," she finished, slapping her knee looking proud.

I was impressed. "Wow, Lindsey, you got this down. So what do I do?"

"Make him jealous. Flirt with Sebastian."

"But Nicole…she'll hate me even more."

"Okay here's the deal. You make Jace think you're flirting with Sebastian. Buuut, you're actually telling Sebastian about Nicole in a seductive way."

I smiled, "Perfect, thanks Lindz."

"No prob."

I left the locker room and noticed Sebastian leaning against the wall, waiting for everyone else to arrive. I went up to him.

"Hey Seb, what's up?" he smiled noticing me.

"Hey Clary." He leaned closer to me to whisper something in my ear. "I heard about what happened between you and Nicole…Does she really, is she into…I'm not really sure what's true…"

"Yeah, I think you should go talk to her," I said smiling. I noticed Jace looking at us standing so close and he did not look happy. Its working! I thought.

"Really? I'm not sure…" he trailed off.

"YES! Come on," I said, linking his arm through mine. I dragged him closer to where Nicole was standing and made sure Jace wasn't looking.

"Nicole, this is Sebastian, Seb, Nicole," I gave her a look that said sorry-nothing-happened-between-us-and-see-this-is-showing-that-he's-all-yours.

"Hi," she said brightly.

"Hey," Sebastian said. I unlinked my arm from his and left the two to talk. I looked at Jace who wore a confused expression. I winked at him and he smirked.

After we got our workouts given to us, everyone headed to the benches to get their gear on. Jace came up beside me, acting like he getting ready rather than talking to me.

"Nice move Ariel, seems like you know how to keep friends," he said under his breath looking in the other direction. Ah crap it didn't work.

"Two can play at this game you know," I told him, talking in the same manner.

"Are you talking about the game which I've already won?"

"You didn't look like a winner staring at me and Sebastian together,"

"I wasn't staring, I was admiring at the poor choice you have in boys."

"Oh so just because I don't choose you, I have poor choice? Or are you just jealous?"

"I don't get jealous, I make others jealous."

"Seriously Jace, what was the point of trying to destroy my friendship with Nicole?"

"Okay Clary, listen to me. I've told you this before. Sebastian here, the sweet lobster, is the one guy you do not want to hang around. He's slept with more girls than the number of times you've won gold. And believe me, I know how many times you've won gold."

"Jace, why do you care?"

"Because you're Clary," he said winking and leaving me dumbfounded. He was so damn confusing!

Of course, Jace being captain of guys and I being captain of girls, were put in the same workout. We were the only ones in our workout. Yay just me and him. Great.

"Ah we meet again," Jace said smoothly.

"I'm so excited," I said, sarcasm coating my voice.

"Hey don't use sarcasm with me, I know how much you love looking at this," he said gesturing to his perfectly toned body.

"I don't see anything," I lied, blushing. He smirked knowing how bad I was at lying.

"Hey you gotta a little…" he said brushing my cheekbone.

"What?" I asked, suddenly conscious.

"Pink…" he said grinning and I blushed even more.

"Don't worry, you look cute when you blush." And I blushed again…I hate when guys use that.

"Just out of curiosity, why are you talking to me again?" I really wanted to know why.

"Okay, I admit it, I felt bad about treating you that way and decided that faintly acknowledging that I actually know you wasn't going to hurt my popularity or the string of girls waiting to get their hands on me," he admitted.

"You're so humble."

"That's me, humble Jonathan." Wait, Jonathan?

"Jonathan? You're name's Jace."

"Yeah Jace is my nickname I got after my initials J.C. My real name is Jonathan-"

"Christopher," I finished in a whisper.

He smiled a cheeky smile. It finally dawned on me. Oh my god. "No, you're not Jonathan, like THE Jonathan are you? No, it's been so long…"

He started to laugh. "Jonathan?" I shrieked and before I knew it I had my arms wrapped around him in a crushing hug. We both fell back into the water together. He pulled me out breathing hard and smiling.

"You remember huh?"

"Remember?" I yelled. "You knew all this time and didn't bother to tell me? And don't think that this will get you off the hook for what you did," I exclaimed hitting his arms with my fists.

"Okay! Okay! Sorry!" he said putting his hands up. "You're still feisty like you used to be aren't you."

"I had missed you so much," I whispered, forgetting all that had happened between us.

"Me too," he whispered back. He started to move closer to me, his head dipping closer and closer and closer…

"GET MOVING WAYLAND!" the coach's whistle sounded and we snapped out of it.

"So…uh.."

"The workout…"

"Yeah…" we said awkwardly. Jace had been about to kiss me! And the coach had to interrupt.

We finished our workout in silence and Jace left without a word. My mind was still swimming (hahaha i didn't realize the play on words) with what could have happened if coach hadn't blown his whistle.

I took a quick shower and then left the locker room to go to my car. I saw Jace with his arms around Kaelie and my heart fell just a little bit. I guess they were back together. Shaking myself out of it, I told myself that I was Clary Fray and I wasn't going to just fall for a boy who wasn't worth my time.

I walked past them and Kaelie intentionally bumped me. "Watch where you're going bitch," she hissed at me.

"Having a hot boy at your shoulder doesn't make you much stronger," I said twisting her fragile arm. "You know why you never won a medal? It would be too heavy around your neck and you would collapse from the weight."

I shoved past her, her mouth hanging open. "Do you really want mosquitoes for dinner? Shut your mouth honey," I called behind me.

I heard Jace snickering and smiled to myself. Ugh I was giving too much of my attention to him.

As I was about to get into my car, Lindsey ran up to me. "So did it work?" she asked.

"Nope," I said a little sadly. "I couldn't figure out how to flirt with Sebastian while introducing him to Nicole at the same time."

"Hm…makes sense. But we still have a chance at something else…" she grinned evilly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, very confused.

"The boys' stuff is still in the locker room. They don't leave after hanging out with the cheerleaders and having a couple drinks."

"How come I don't know this?" I asked, bewildered.

"Cause you're a good girl. Now do you have an extra bra or something?" she asked, kind of awkwardly.

"Yeahhh…" I replied, somewhat uncertain. Where was she going with this.

"Alright…Sebastian and Jace have the same bag. We'll slip it into Sebastian's bag and then switch the positions so Jace takes Sebastian's and vice versa. Jace'll see the bra, think Sebastian screwed you and then explode!" Lindsey said gleefully.

"That is so dirty!" I exclaimed.

"Do you want revenge, or not? This is how to get even with boys like this." She said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, but how is Jace going to know its mine?" I said, blushing slightly.

"Um…good point…idea! Ok, you put your swim team jacket with your name in the bag along with some other clothes! Mission accomplished!" she said gleefully. Thought it may be kinda dirty, it was going to work, I knew that.

"Okay, let's do it."

We snuck into the boys' locker room, and trust me it wasn't that hard. Finding Sebastian's bag, I took off my jacket and put it in the bag. Then, I fished into my own bag and put in an extra shirt and underwear into the bag. Lindsey quickly changed the places of the bags and motioned for me to get out of the locker room.

As soon as we were a clear distance away, we burst out laughing. I was kind of anxious to see the end result of our little scheme.

We saw Jace and some other boys surrounded by girls outside. Every boy and girl was holding a beer in their hands except for Jace. That really surprised me. I would never take him for the good boy type. Shrugging, I waved good bye to Lindsey and drove home.

The next morning in school was the usual. After first block, I was getting some books out of my locker when Lindsey came running to me.

"Did you hear?" she was literally jumping.

"Hear what?"

"Jace got detention for beating up Sebastian in the field this morning!" she squealed.

I was confused for a second. "Why would he-ohhhhh…"

"He totally likes you! Why else would a guy stand up for a girl like that? He has conflicted feelings, the poor guy. You can thank me now." She grinned.

"Thank you Lindz," I replied, smiling and rolling my eyes. I felt kind of guilty but he deserved it. He may be Jonathan and all, but that doesn't mean I completely forgot what he did.

Jace P.O.V.

Blood was still pumping in my ears from beating the bastard to pulp. How dare he touch her like that? I mean I didn't care, did I? But no girl deserved to be treated like that. But Clary seemed fine…what the hell was going on?

After a quick trip to a nurse and a pink detention slip being handed into my bandaged hand, I headed to Drama. I saw a flash of red and realized Clary was going in too.

"Clary, wait!" I yelled behind her.

She turned around as if she had been expecting me to call her. "Yeah?"

"What's going on between you and Sebastian? I am utterly confused," I said, tried to keep my voice calm.

"Why do you care?" she asked, sighing.

"I don't," I said quickly. She gave me a 'uh, hello?' look. "Just tell me what happened," I said sternly. "Being captain of the team, it's my job to make sure none of the boys are…messing around," I lied. It was lame but whatever.

"Right. Nothing's going on," she replied earnestly.

"Clary, don't lie to me. I saw-"

"Its not true." Wait what.

"What?"

"Its not-"

"So you're telling me that your clothes are in Verlac's bag for no reason?" I asked, mildly outraged.

"Jace, I put them in there. I set it up. Nothing happened between me and Sebastian. I just wanted you to get how it feels to hurt someone close," she explained. My eyes widened and I felt kind of guilty. Ok so we're even. But something still didn't make sense.

"Wait, Verlac admitted sleeping with you."

"What?" Clary yelled.

"Yeah, right as I was about to punch him, he said that you were a good time in you know…" I trailed off.

"And then what?" she asked nervously.

"Then I did punch him," I said calmly.

"That son of a-" the second bell rang indicating for people to be in class right now. "Shit we're late, come on!" she yelled when I didn't move, grabbing my hand and running into the auditorium.

Her hand was warm and soft in mine and for a second I felt like we could stay like that forever. Since when did I start paying so much attention to one girl? Before I could take my hand away, she took hers away, blushing.

"Clary, Wayland you're late. Seeing that you two are the only ones left unpaired, you're partners for the project," our drama teacher informed us. I nodded and Clary looked shocked. Hurtful.

"Clarissa and , I'm sorry but in this class, tardiness is not acceptable. Im afraid im going to have to give you both detention."

"What?" Clary exclaimed, while he handed her a pink slip and turned to give me one. She glared at me.

"Already booked," I drawled, holding up the one I had gotten previously that morning.

"Nothing new Wayland. I'm letting it slide just this once," he gave me a stern glare before returning to explain the project.

"Bu-" Clary started.

"Sorry," I whispered, trying to look honest while trying not to laugh at the same time. It looked like it was the first time she had gotten detention.

She waved me off and tried to listen to the teacher, while I leaned back in my chair thinking of how much those girls were trying to get my attention.

After class, I examined our detention slips. "Why are they pink?" I asked. "Seeing that boys are the ones who get detention more often, shouldn't they be like blue or green?"

Clary looked at me like I was crazy. "Are you saying pink is not a manly color?"

"Are you saying pink is not a girly color? Men do not drink, wear, eat, hold or buy anything pink and I am a man," I explained.

"You're more like a crazy angst-ridden teenager than a man," she retorted. It was cute when she did that. Oh shut up Jace.

"That as well."

"So you're a man-child?" she asked.

"Man-child? Clary, darling, you pierce my heart with your hurtful words," I said grinning.

"Jace?"

"Hm?"

"Shut up. Now what are we going to make the topic of our film for drama?" she asked seriously.

"I don't know. How about we discuss it over a date Friday night, my place?" I offered, hoping she would accept.

"Fine, but its not going to be a date. More like a business meeting," she corrected.

"Whatever floats your boat," I said winking, turning in the other direction to go to class. I was already thinking of a million things to do for Friday.


	16. We've Got a Badass Over Here

**Hey Guys! Thanks you so much for the reviews! Some of them are so nice and they just make my day! I'm sorry I haven't been updating very often. I'M SO SORRY! I KNOW ITS BEEN FOREVER SINCE I UPDATED! SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY! I KNOW I KNOW! I'M SORRY! Finals and science projects, you know, school crap. But the good news is that I'm almost out of school so I'll have plenty of time to update.**

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Clary P.O.V.

I sighed as I made my way to detention after school. This was the first time I had ever gotten detention! My life has been going gaga ever since Jace arrived. Walking in, I plopped my stuff on one of the desks and saw Jace with his binder, gathering his things.

"You're early to detention?" he asked snickering.

"Aren't you?" I retorted back.

"This happened to be my last class of the day. I was just leaving," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You're skipping detention?" I asked, incredulous.

"Something like that. I mean I come for the first five minutes and after the teacher leaves to go do work, I'm out."

"Oo, watch out, we've got a badass over here," I said under my breath and Jace laughed.

"Come on, Clary. Are you honestly gonna waste an hour sitting in here doing nothing and being a goody goody?" he said, with an eyebrow raised.

I swiveled around to meet him eye to eye. "I am NOT a goody goody," I said haughtily. I had done bad things! Like…um…

"Name one prank you've played," he challenged.

Damn it. "I…uh…" I struggled to find a prank or a bad thing I had done in my high school career. "I bet you're just all talk," I said to him, avoiding myself.

"May I remind you, I'm in here for whooping the crab's ass. Plus, I've done many things and no one has ever caught me," he said, shrugging. "It's a skill."

I tried to think of pranks who's culprit hasn't been caught yet. Oh. My. God.

"Were YOU the one who filled Mr.B's desk drawers with whipped cream and chocolate? And then put the sticky note that said 'enjoy desert'?" I asked, my eyes wide.

He chuckled as if remembering that. "Yeah, that never gets old, and be thankful. Our midterms were in there, and let me just say, those were not our best test scores. And going back to you, you have never done anything wrong have you?"

I glared at him. "So what? Not everyone has to be 'bad'."

He shrugged as a teacher walked in looking bored.

"Take out something to do for the next hour. I have some work to do to shut up and do your work. Don't move from your seat," he said, looking directly at Jace. He smirked.

Jace put his hands up like he was surrendering and the teacher walked out of the room glaring at us. As soon as the teacher was no longer to be seen, Jace hopped up from his seat and slung his backpack around his shoulder.

"Come on," he said to me. I didn't like where this was going.

"Where?" I asked nervously.

"We," he paused for dramatic effect, "are going on an adventure of 'bad'."

"Oh no no no. You are NOT dragging me into this! We'll get into so much tro-" I stopped. He had his eyebrows raised and was softly singing 'goody-two shoes' under his breath. That was it. I was going to show this boy. "You know what? Fine, let's go and I'll show that I am NOT a goody two shoes," I snapped.

Jace grinned evilly, "Perfect." He started to walk out of the room and I reluctantly followed, knowing I was going to regret this later. We walked out of the school and into the city three blocks in. Getting tired of not knowing where we were going, I asked.

"Where are we going?" I demanded. He had his hands in his pockets and was strolling like he was walking alone.

"Hilton Hotel," he replied. I stiffened. In watching many movies, the guy took the girl to the hotel and, well, did things. "Don't worry, that's not gonna happen," he chuckled, as if he was reading my mind. My eyes narrowed at him. He led me up the stairs and up more stairs and up more stairs….we probably climbed a thousand steps until we reached the top of the hotel. The roof.

"Uh, Jace, just to clarify. You're not gonna push me off right?" I asked blatantly.

He cracked a smile, "Aw little red, I wouldn't do that you you. Yet." He then put down his backpack and took out a pack of balloons. "The classic prank that is so overdone, but also never gets old. The water balloon drop," Jace announced. I grinned. Now this I could do.

He went around the side of the roof and grabbed the hose. "Start filling them up," he instructed. I obeyed.

"Jace, what if someone catches us on the roof?" I asked, scared of getting caught.

"Clary, relax. It's not like we're smoking pot or anything. If someone comes, we go down the fire escape. Duh," he added. I stuck my tongue out at him like a child and continued filling the balloons. Soon we were done.

"So this is how you spend your time? Harassing people?" I asked incredulously. He snickered.

"Eh, half of my time. It gives me enjoyment."

"I see that." He grinned again.

"Now, you have to calculate the speed of the balloon in relation to the speed of the walking person so it lands right on their head, okay?" he said very fast. I blinked and then I realized I was talking to .

"Right, got it," I said nodding my head.

"Or you can just wing it," he offered.

"Yeah I like that better." I drew in a breath. I was excited. And scared. And excited. I still couldn't believe that I was spending time with this boy. I mean he was so handsome and charming and a bad boy and I couldn't help but swoon over him just a little.

We went over to the edge of the roof. "You go first," I told him.

"Alright, watch and learn," he said cockily. He spotted a target – a woman in a short skirt and tanktop with shades and a very expensive purse hanging in her arm. "And drop," he whispered and let the balloon go. Right on target, the balloon exploded on her head and she let out a shriek looking up. "Duck!" he whispered, pulling me behind the railing.

"That, was AWESOME!" I whispered, high fiving him.

"I know. You're turn and don't chicken out," he said grinning slyly. I slapped his arm and took a balloon in my hand. I peered over the edge of the roof, trying to find a target. I saw a man in a business suit with a sandwich in one hand and a suitcase in another walking briskly down the street. Perfect.

I hovered the balloon over the edge, waiting for the right moment and then released. It landed on his shoulder with a splash. Aw, oh well. Next time I'll get the head.

I immediately threw myself behind the railing snickering with Jace. "Not bad," he told me.

The booming voice of the man was heard all the way up on the roof. "You kids just wait! I'm calling the cops and don't you try to escape!" he yelled, spluttering.

"Crap! Jace what do we do now?" I yelled frantically. He was grinning as if this was his favorite part.

"We have to make use of the rest of these," he said indicating the bucket of filled balloons. Before I could ask what he was doing, he picked it up and threw them all off the roof landing on the man again. Oh god. We were in serious trouble now. The man's furious scream was heard and Jace started cracking up.

"Now what?" I asked, very nervous.

"Now," Jace started calmly, " we run." Right on cue, police sirens were heard. "Shit! Clary move!" Jace yelled laughing, pulling me down the back fire escape. We ran laughing and running on pure adrenaline. It was crazy, but somehow, I was loving every minute of it.

We ran down the street bumping into random people and almost tipping over carts full of random junk like I heart NY t-shirts. "Sorry!" I yelled behind my shoulder, still cracking up. We rounded a corner into an alley, breathing hard and laughing.

"Oh my god," I breathed, leaning against the brick wall. "You are crazy."

"Don't tell me you didn't have fun. That was probably the most dangerous thing you've done in your life time," he mocked.

"Shut up Jace."

As soon as we were about to leave, there was another voice behind us. "Drop and give me your money." Shit. There was a mugger behind us. Fear coursed through me and I stood frozen on the spot. Jace, however, had other ideas.

He turned around, facing the masked guy, who had a gun in his hand. What was he doing in broad daylight? Stupid mugger.

"Hey man, I wouldn't recommend using that," Jace said coolly. He walked over to the man and in one swift movement, pulled his mask off. "Hey look, it's the police," he said grinning. The unmasked man, without looking once, took off in the other direction.

I stood there, my mouth hanging open. Did that seriously just happen? "Okay, red, let's go. Come on, don't tell me you were scared!"

"Wha…"

"He was obviously a newbie. First, he didn't have the sense to do this at night, rather than in broad daylight. Second, both his hands were shaking. Third, his mask didn't have a mouth hole, he made it himself. Fourth, he was as dumb as a bag of rocks that he actually fell for the police thing," Jace explained. "Aw, poor Clawy was sca-uhed."

I turned on my heel and left him in the alley, sick of being treated like a baby. It wasn't my fault he was the adventurous kind of guy and I wasn't!

"Clary wait!" he yelled after me, jogging to catch up. "Don't be mad, I was kidding." Looking at my glare he added, "Okay, I'll make it up to you. Smoothies?"

"You better," I said haughtily. Who could resist smoothies?

Twenty minutes later, we were finishing up our smoothies and then tossed them in the trash. "So now what? Home?" I asked.

"Are you kidding? Oh no, I'm saving the best for last," he said grinning.

"What now?" I honestly couldn't think of what to do.

"Come on, I wanna show you something." He led me down the street, around a corner, through an alley until we reached the back of what looked like a warehouse.

"Jace, these are the back doors."

"I know, how else do you expect to get in?" he said matter-of-factly. Then he reached into my hair and pulled out a bobby pin I had used to pin up my bangs.

"Um, hey! What are you doing?" he was starting to confuse me more than ever. I realized he was the more doing than talking type. He walked over to the doors and stuck the bobby pin in it. He unlocked to lock with such ease and opened the door with a creak.

"Hey Jace?"

"Hm?"

"Are you allowed to do this?" I asked. Maybe he had a friend or something.

"Nope." And with that, he kept walking. I decided not to ask any more questions and just go with it.

He opened one last door to reveal a giant gymnasium. There was a huge pool on the bottom with an obstacle course on top. There was a tightrope, trapeze swings, and monkey bars. It was just screaming 'come and play!'. It was full of giant ropes, nets and trampolines.

"This is like my dream," I said in awe. It was amazing.

"Well, lucky for you, I'm about to make your dream come true," Jace said with a sophisticated air.

"What?" I asked. Were we actually going to go on this thing?

"I didn't bring you here for sightseeing. Come on, red, go play!" he exclaimed, his gold eyes shining.

He didn't have to tell me twice. I grabbed his hand and ran to the ropes. I climbed up onto the high platform and grabbed a bar swing. I fixed my hands on them and held on tightly before flinging myself into the air, screaming with delight. This was the best thing ever!

I let go of the bar, did a flip and landed right in the water with a splash. I came up for air laughing. This was the most fun I've had in years. Jace was clapping. "Come on, Jace! It's fun!"

Smiling, he grabbed one of the ropes and pushed of the platform. Letting go, he landed in the water right next to me, spraying me with water.

"AHH!" I squealed, giggling.

"Ah, don't be such a girl. I bet I could beat your ass in the obstacle course," he said cockily.

"In your dreams, Wayland," I challenged and swam to the edge of the pool, hoisting myself out. Jace followed me and we stood at the start position in the course.

"Ready."

"Set."

"GO!" I yelled and took off on the rope bridge going across the pool. We were tied on the bridge and both started on the monkey bars. I went as fast as I could, one bar after the other. Jace, being bigger, was skipping a bar. Argh.

Oo, next were the rubber stacks. And they were wet. I hopped on one and screamed, almost losing my balance and falling into the pool. I hopped on the second one and Jace did the same.

"Is Clary scared? Does Clary want to give up? Has Clary lost?" Jace teased.

"Ah, stop distracting me Jace!" I yelled, annoyed and he snickered. I hopped onto the third one and safely onto the second platform, exhaling. Jace was close behind so I ran, climbing up the rock wall as quickly as I could.

"You're gonna lose Clare–bear!" he yelled, not far behind me.

"Clare-bear? What am I, five?" I yelled, still climbing.

"You'll cry like one after I cream you!"

"You really need to stop dreaming, darling!" There was a giant blue rubber stack with a motionless rod in the middle. The rod was the diameter of the blue circle. It probably rotated to knock people off but right now it was still, so just started to walking across.

"Oh no. I don't think so," Jace said behind me. I turned around to look at him, his hand hovering over a red button.

"No Jace! Don't you-" before I could finish, the rod starting to turn and knocked me flat off my feet and onto the edge of stack. I was so close to falling. Jace passed me easily and avoided the spinning rod, now onto the last platform.

"Ah! I hate you!" I screamed at his laughing figure. I got up and quickly ran across, reaching the platform as well. Jace was now on the tightrope, which was the last obstacle. Crap! I ran to the tightrope. He was too far ahead for me to push him off. Then I noticed a balancing pole. Yes!

I grabbed the pole and starting to prod Jace with it. "Clary! What the hell!" he yelled, losing his balance.

"Have fun in the water, sucker!" I yelled before pushing him off into the pool. Jace came up out of the water, waving his fist.

"This is so not over!" he yelled at me, grinning evilly. I shrugged and walked onto the tightrope carefully. I was positive I was going to fall. Oh well. I saw Jace get out of the water and walk over to the control board. Uh-oh.

He pushed a button and out of nowhere, swinging red rubber balls appeared. I screamed and ducked before one smashed into my head. It barely missed me and I lost my balance, falling into the water.

"Who's the sucker now?" Jace yelled.

"Cheater!" I yelled at him, laughing still.

His eye widened, a grin plastered on his face. "You were the one who knocked me over!"

I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed. All of a sudden a light turned on and then another one. We heard noises and people talking.

"Shit!" I hissed.

"Get out!" Jace whispered, shaking with laughter. I swam as fast as I could to the edge and took Jace's hand, pulling myself out.

We fled the gym, the rods and the balls still moving. We burst out laughing as soon as we got out and onto the street.

"Jace, we're soaked," I said, still smiling at all the fun I had today.

"No shit, Sherlock," Jace smirked. "So, how'd that feel?"

"Best. Day. Ever." I told him. And it was true. "Thanks Jace."

He just smiled at me, then looked right ahead. The sun was setting. "Do you remember, when we were little, we ate the chocolate cake in your refrigerator your mom had made for Kyle's birthday, and then denied it, with chocolate frosting on our faces?" Jace recalled, laughing.

I laughed, remembering that. "Yeah," I said a little sadly. Kyle was still fresh in my memory. The day I was in the hospital waiting room washed over me. The nurse came out with a sympathetic look on her face and gave me the news. I hated hospitals. Hated them. there were too many memories I didn't want to remember there.

"Clary, you okay?" Jace asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said quickly, wiping away a tear that had formed. Jace stopped walking and looked right at me, into my eyes.

"I'm really sorry for what I had said the other day. It was cruel. I-shouldn't have…my parents…and I thought you…I'm sorry. The memory of my dead parents still haunts me and I just lose it sometimes. It makes me seem bipolar…" he muttered. My heart melted just a bit, seeing him like that.

I laughed, sniffling. "I'm sorry too. I guess we're both pretty broken, huh?"

He nodded, smiling. "Come on, I'll walk you home, it's getting dark."

I didn't refuse when he took my hand and walked with me to my apartment building in silence. We didn't need words to be comforted by each other.

It was dark when we reached my place. He turned around to face me, his eyes shining in the dark. "Thank you, Jace. For everything," I whispered.

"You're welcome," he whispered back. "I should…go now," he said a little hesitantly. Jace reluctantly let go of my hand, instantly feeling colder, lacking the warmth of my hand in his.

I nodded. He turned around to leave, when in a swift movement, he turned back and kissed my forehead. "I'll see you later, okay?" I nodded, my heart still racing from when he kissed my forehead. He then turned around and left. I stood there, watching his silhouette disappear into the shadows.

That night, I had no trouble sleeping.


	17. Happy Halloween

**Hey guys! Thanks soooo much for the reviews! They make my day! Wow 215, that's amazing! I hope you guys like this chapter. Be sure to review it and tell me what you think what you like and disliked! Xoxoxo, writerblock90**

Happy Halloween

"Hey," a voice said behind me. I looked up, seeing Isabelle's cheerful eyes looking at me. I smiled.

"Hey."

"So," she started, leaning in to almost whisper in my ear, "I heard that you and Jace went on a little date, hm?" She giggled, smirk plastered on her face. My mouth was open in outrage.

"What? First of all, it was not a date. Second of all, we were ditching detention. How is that a date?" I said, my cheeks heating up.

"Oooo you were ditching detention together," she giggled again. I rolled my eyes at her and changed the subject.

"What's got you all up and happy?" I asked, with the same tone that she used with me.

"Oh nothing much," she said, staring at her shoes.

"As much as I love your heels, I'm pretty sure they're not the reason why," I teased.

"Alright fine, if you insist. I'm going on a date with Simon!" Strange enough, I felt a little pang of jealousy. Maybe it was because we weren't spending much time together anymore. It wasn't Clary and Simon, it was Clary… And Simon….

I put a fake smile on my face. "Oh my gosh that's great! How'd he ask you?"

"Oh, I asked him. He was too shy. It was so cute!" she gushed. I felt a little better. At least Simon wasn't devoting ALL his time to other people. "What homeroom is he in?"

"What?" I asked blankly, snapping out of my thoughts.

"Simon's homeroom?" she asked impatiently.

"Oh, 349 I think."

"Ok great. Thanks! See you later!" she squealed and ran off. I slumped back in my seat, immediately missing Maia. I glanced around noticing that homeroom was unusually empty.

"Hey Clary," I looked up again to see my homeroom teacher's smiling face.

"Hello."

"Could you run down to the field and give this to Coach Melrose? He's with the boy's swim team and track team, so you'll find Coach pretty easily," he instructed. Having no choice but to say yes, I took the folder from his hands and started to make my way down the stairs.

That's when I saw Nicole. Her face was buried behind her hair, he face pale and streaked with tears. I ran to her. "Nic? Nic! What's wrong? What happened?" I asked frantically.

"Clary, I'm sorry," she sobbed. "Sebastian…he used me! He… he…told me he loved me and then took advantage of me. A-and t-this morning he said h-he didn't w-want me anymore!"

I felt my blood boil. "That son-of-a-bitch," I muttered under my breath. "Nic, you go to homeroom. I'll be there in a little while. I have some business to handle."

I couldn't believe Jace was right. I ran down the stairs and onto the field, breathing heavily as I approached Coach Melrose. The swim team boys were spread out on the field, talking in small groups and waiting for further instructions. I scanned the area and found Simon surrounded by three girls. Wow, sorry Izzy. She was probably looking for him everywhere. That little jealous feeling returned.

I saw Jace and Sebastian standing in the same group with three other boys talking. I quickly handed the folder to coach and made my way over to him. He was going to get a piece of my mind today.

As I approached them, they took notice. Jace made a small wave towards me and I smiled back.

"What," I spat, "is your problem, you sick pervert?" I exclaimed in Sebastian's face. His smile had disappeared and was replaced with a knowing expression. "You try to get with me and when you fail, you go after Nicole? You take advantage of her and then leave her sobbing in the dust feeling used and like a piece of trash? What is your fuc-" I was interrupted by Jace who was now stepping in between me and Sebastian almost in a protective manner.

"Clary," he said, his eyes dark, "what's going on?"

"What's going on? The hell is going on! Why aren't you talking, SEB? Are you afraid that your little ass is going to get whooped again by Jace? You didn't get the hint after you tried to get in my pants after our little lunch together that what you were doing is wrong? No, you go right ahead and get with one of my friends! You have ruined her! You bastard!" I yelled, infuriated. I took a look at Jace, his jaw was clenched and he was walking dangerously close to Sebastian.

I almost laughed. Sebastian looked…scared. Before Jace could get any closer to detentions for life for beating the freaking shit out of Sebastian, I stopped him.

"Stop Jace, he's not worth it."

"Jace. Precious Jace. We'll see where your Jace is when I've got you cornered with no escape. You will regret saying these things Clarissa. You've humiliated me and I will do much worse to you," Sebastian growled. He then walked off to the side of the school behind the bushes.

Holding Jace back was like holding a wild horse. "Jace! Jace! Stop!" After calming down, he stepped aside.

"I'm not gonna say I told you so, but-"

"Jace, I'm sorry. I should have listened to you but I didn't and I was stupid. I'm sorry and now Nicole has to pay and it's all my fault and she's going to hate me and everyone's gonna think-" I didn't stop talking until I noticed that Jace was holding both my hands, trying to get me to shut up.

"Clary! Shut up! It's not your fault! All I'm gonna say is be careful around him. What he says, he does," Jace explained. I couldn't help but notice the pain in Jace's eyes.

"Jace, something's behind this. What is it?" I asked softly. He stared at me for a moment before pulling me aside.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, as the bush twig scratched my arm.

"I trust you Clary and don't tell this to anyone!" he whispered. I nodded and he started the story.

"I had a sister. Well she wasn't my sister, she was Alec and Izzy's sister, but whatever. She had a boyfriend. At first he seemed like a nice guy and he was. Well that's what we thought. One night, they came home from a restaurant and he kissed her. The kiss turned, well you know. He tried to have sex with her but she didn't want to. He became violent and forced her and he raped her. After that she became pregnant, with problems. While she was giving birth, she lost a lot of blood and…died." He said the last part so softly that I almost didn't catch it.

"Oh Jace, I'm so sorry," I whispered. He waved me off and took a breath. Shaking it off, he put a smirk back on his face.

"Now tell me the truth. You volunteered to give that folder to Coach just because you wanted to see me didn't you?" he smirked.

"Yes, Jace. That's exactly why."

"Knew it! You've always had a thing for me haven't you?"

"Jace?"

"Yeah?"

"Get over yourself."

"That's too hard. No one can get over me. Not even myself."

"So you have a relationship with yourself?"

"Sometimes. I occasionally reject myself to keep it interesting." Oh my god this boy was…ugh never mind.

"Oh my god, okay I don't have all day to sit and chat so good bye," I said turning around.

"Alright but don't forget about our date on Friday!" he called behind me. I screamed in frustration and heard him laugh.

It was weird how he could go so suddenly from upset to cocky. I guess that was Jace. What were we? I guess we were friends. Just friends? More than friends? No, no, he had a girlfriend. Speaking of friends, I walked over to Simon, kind of shooing away the girls.

"Somebody's a little pop-u-lar," I said, poking his shoulder. Wow, it was hard. "Dude, what do you lift?"

"I told you, my dad does this super freaky training thing. Where have you been? Always hanging out with that Wayland kid aren't you?" Simon said.

"Aw, come on. It's not like you spend any less time with Isabelle," I teased and he blushed.

"She's nice…but hey, we haven't hung out in a while. How about Friday? We could go into the city, get dinner? How does that sound?" he asked hopefully. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I had to film the project with Jace.

"Sounds great!" I said. Crap, what was I going to tell Jace?

"Good." Simon's face lit up. "Look, I got to go. I'll see you later, bye Ariel."

"Bye, Si."

Now I had to tell the blondie. He was still outside, walking in, so I ran up to catch up with him. "Jace?"

"Still following me huh, red?"

"Shut up. And there's been a slight change of plans. I can't do Friday." I hesitated, waiting for a reaction. When he didn't reply I added, "I haven't spent any time with Simon for a while and it feels like we're drifting apart so when he asked I said yes. Sorry."

"So…you're going out with Simon? I thought Izzy was completely in love with him…" Jace said, not facing me.

"No!" I said quickly. "It's not a date, we're just hanging out. I don't think of Simon that way."

"Alright fine, you have fun with rat boy, but to make up for it, you come to my swim meet on Saturday and then we go to my house for filming."

"Done," I said, so happy he didn't get mad.

"Ok now get to class Clare-bear. You don't want another detention. Or do you?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"As much fun as I had, no. Bye Jace." I rushed into the building hoping I wouldn't be late for class.

Jace P.O.V.

It was final. I was starting to fall for her. I sounded so desperate to spend time with her. Gah! What's gotten into me? Since when did I try to get a girl's attention? I swore that I would never become close to anyone, and look here I am breaking my promise. She was different than any girl I had ever met. She wasn't desperate for my attention; she gave me space, she understood me.

Ever since I met her in the bookstore, I knew she was different. Different from any other girl I had ever met. I had screwed up with her, multiple times. I had said things I shouldn't have said and then paid the price. I hated it. She made me nervous that I might say the wrong thing, I almost got tongue tied in front of her. I NEVER get like that in front of girls.

But I'm scared. I'm scared I'll let her in, and then lose her. Clary. She was always on my mind and it was hard to think of anything else. I wouldn't shut her out, but I wouldn't let her in. Yes. Friends, I could do that. Right?

Clary P.O.V.

I ran/speed walked back to homeroom, meeting the tear-streaked face of Nicole. I said comforting things to her while trying to think up some form of revenge. Yes, he had been a little creepy when he said he was going to get back at me, but I wasn't that scared. I would get revenge. For her and all those poor girls who had suffered abuse from guys. I tried to think of how to get back at Sebastian and remembered Lindsay's words. She told me a long time ago to go after the person's pride and beauty. Racking my brain, it suddenly hit me. His car.

After the last period, I went to my locker and stuffed all my stuff into my backpack. I quickly ran to the janitor's closet, glanced around and then stuck the orange paint spray into my backpack. I grinned, Jace would be so proud of me.

As I walked, I mulled over my relationship with Jace. Sure we had a little turbulence but now we were friends. Like really good friends. He could be a cocky ass, but that was a little part of him that I actually liked. It showed that he can be a tough guy, but also has a sensitive side. He was THE perfect guy. NO! I have to stop thinking about him that way. I think I like him. I get butterflies in my stomach every time I see him.

And every time he smiles at me, I melt. Damn it Clary, you've got it bad. I wasn't ready though. I wasn't ready for a relationship. I know Jace. He's a bit, oh screw it, he IS a ladies man. With a body and face like that, it's hard for him NOT to be. I don't mean anything to him. I'm just a girl who can kinda sorta resist his charm and gradually became his friend.

But I'm forgetting that we used to be best friends. We spent literally everyday together. UGH! I'm getting so confused! I decided that I would keep my distance. I'm not risking it. I've already lost everything and if something goes just a little wrong, I think I might just break. Jace. Stop Clarissa. He'll play with you, pretend he cares and then will throw you away like he does with every other girl. You're nothing to him. A friend and nothing more.

Shaking out of my thoughts, I took a deep breath and refocused on my goal. Revenge. I looked in the parking lot. Good, Sebastian's car was still there.

I ran over, making sure no one was watching. Good thing he parked in the back of the lot. Then, as quickly as I could, I spray painted man-whore on the side and hood in big, ugly orange letters. That ought to hurt just a bit. The orange clashed horribly with the beautiful black of his car. It reminded me of Halloween. Happy Halloween, Seb. Satisfied with my work, I ran to the back of the school and put the can back in its place. Mission accomplished.


	18. Secrets Out

**Hey guys, so I brought a little twist in the story. Tell me what you think of it. Jace and Clary were too cute and I needed a little argument and rivalry action so I put this in. Stay tuned if you love heated, funny and a little flirty arguing between Jace and Clary! OH AND GUESS WHAT! I went to six flags and there was a ride called PANDEMONIUM! And I was like WHOA NO WAY! And the line was super long like I imagined in front of a club and everything! ANNNND…the ride was like super super super fun! Anyway, I should stop rambling. BUT ITS FUN! He he..I'll stop.**

**ENJOY DA CHAPPIE MY DARLINGS! I had a little too much coffee ice cream…**

Secrets Out

Jace P.O.V.

The first thing I heard when I arrived at school that morning was "Dude, Sebastian's car got trashed!" That's word for word. Then one of my many fan girls shows up trying to shove a picture in my face. I couldn't help but let out a laugh at the sight. There, in big orange letters, spelled man-whore on the side of the poor guy's car.

That's when I knew who the culprit was. Clary. I smiled at the thought of her and then immediately shook my head clear of the thought. That girl was messing with my head. Why was I paying so much attention to her? Why was she special? Yeah, she understood me because of her whole family situation, but that was it right? I guess this is what it felt like falling for someone. There is no answer to why…its just there. I don't know why she makes my heart flip when I see her. It just happens.

I walked to the gym locker room to get my backpack. I had left in there yesterday. Homework must have…slipped my mind. There I bumped into someone I was hoping not to. The crab…lobster..whatever it was.

"Oh lookey here, it's Clarissa's precious Jace. You know people are talking…you're not THE Jace Wayland anymore. You're just some guy that's been whipped by a girl he barely knows and a traitor…so sad. I guess being a pathetic orphan has it's consequences," he sneered. Sebastian.

Growling, I shoved him into the locker. "What," I spat, "Are you talking about? Are you forgetting that you're car looks like a homeless shelter?"

He smiled a sickening smile. "I know your dirty little secrets…parents stabbed to death, gay brother, sister who's probably slept with half the school…oh and the OTHER sister who was a freaking slut and died as one."

I felt my blood boil as he said that. Within a second I was on him, punching his jaw. I smiled with delight as blood trickled down his chin.

"Oh," he started, grinning, blood covering all his teeth, "say hi to Clarissa for me."

I shook my head in disbelief. She couldn't have…why did she do this? I guess this is how all of my ex's felt when I decided not to call or text them anymore, but a thousand times worse. Clary, the girl I trusted, the girl who made me feel that I was me, was a filthy liar and a pretty good damn actress. Well, she was going to pay…the same way.

"Why don't you go back to her, she's your little servant. Ask her how it feels to have your whole damn family swept off the earth in one second?"

Sebastian's eyes widened as if I told him some big secret. "So Clarissa's a pathetic orphan too…this should be even more fun…"

Despite hating Clary, I couldn't help but feel a little protective. "What do you want Sebastian? What do you get from this?"

"Nothing…it's just fun." I shoved him to the ground again and got out of the locker room as fast I could. I didn't need another detention.

By third period, the news was all over school. My and Clary's secrets were out and there was no way to turn that around. Maybe I shouldn't have retaliated by telling Sebastian her secret, but it made me feel better. I wasn't the only broken one out there.

Now that people knew, I would have to work harder. No one should know that this stuff actually affected me. I would be ruthless.

I skipped practice that day. There was no way I was going. I was sitting at the back of the school, inspecting my bleeding hand after I had punched the wall. The pain kind of felt good. That's when I saw a head of red leaving the school alone. Her red hair hung damp around her face and she made no effort to move it away.

She looked around and her eyes rested on me. I cursed under my breath as she made her way over to me. Her eyes were brimmed with tears and her nose was red. "You, are nothing but a cheating bastard!" Clary screamed shoving me back.

My eyebrows furrowed in anger. "Me? Yeah, because I'm the one who faked the innocence and told Sebastian everything I had trusted you with."

"I can't believe you believe him! You seriously think I would do something like to you? No, you let your stupid ego and hot head get in front of you and tell Sebastian the one and only thing that I was afraid for even one person to know! You're pathetic Jace," she spat. Her eyes were full of hurt and I felt a sudden pang of guilt.

"There's nothing I can do to change anything now," I said.

"That's all you got? No sorry? You know what…I don't want to hear it. You're not the caring guy I was starting to actually let in, you're just another guy who thinks it's okay to play with someone's life even though they don't deserve it. Ugh…Jace…" she stopped, tears streaming, her hands up in frustration, "…you're nothing I thought you were…you…I hate you!"

Those last words stung. So maybe she hadn't told Sebastian. I don't know how he knew, but the way Clary was acting it was pretty clear she didn't have anything to do with it. I was stupid, telling the jerk what he wanted to hear.

Either way, I was done. I was done with Clary, I was done with Sebastian. There was a dark stain on Clary and I and no matter how hard we tried it, it wasn't going to go away. This was bound to happen one day or another. I was in a way glad it happened sooner rather than later.

Clary P.O.V.

I…dramatically, but heart-broken, fell onto my bed upon reaching home. Everyone now knew that I was alone. People would just take advantage of me. I wiped away the oncoming tears and went to wash my face.

That night I was miserable. Simon was busy with his newly social life and Maia was still in Maine. Nonetheless I called her. After the third ring, she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Maia…" I sobbed into the phone, new tears arising. Shit, I was going to make that jerk pay for making me cry.

"Oh god Clary what happened? Shit, I haven't talked to you in weeks and haven't been there for you, I'm a terrible friend I'm sorry! What happened? If it's a guy, I will personally come down there and beat the fuc-"

"MAIA! Breathe…it's just…the whole school knows now. Not just you and Simon. They know that I live by myself and have no family…ugh people are gonna treat me like a pathetic loser or give me a bunch of bullshit sympathy…and there's no one here for me…" I said the last part softly, new tears spilling into my lap.

"Oh no…no Clary…it's ok. You've got me…you've got Simon…you've even got that new friend of yours…Jace right? He seems like an ass, but it also seems like he cares for y-"

"JACE is not my friend…he is just another one of those hot headed douche bags that don't give a shit for anybody! Simon is too busy with his new fan girls to pay attention to me, even though we're 'supposed' to hang out on Friday and you're in MAINE! I'm ALONE! Like I always have been!" I cried into the phone, hating my life more than ever right now.

"Jace…he told everyone didn't he? I will kill him." Maia growled into the phone. "And what is this about Simon and his new fan girls?"

"He…goes to Scarlen now. He's on the track team, his dad worked some magic over the summer and now he's like actually hot and is probably gonna end up dating one of the prettiest girls at school," I explained through sniffles.

"Jerk."

"Pretty much."

"Clary, honey I'm so sorry I haven't been there for you. This tournament's been getting really important for me and I have to be there. Hey, you have that meet in Sydney next week right? Don't let these stupid jerks get in your way. Power through and show them what my girl's got," Maia encouraged.

I smiled a watery smile. "Thanks Maia."

"You're welcome. Feel better okay? I'm here if you need to talk."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later." With that I hung up, and drifted to sleep.

The next morning I clutched my head as the previous day's events washed over me. Jace being a jerk, me crying, us ending our so called relationship forever…in a nutshell…not much. Acting like nothing really happened made me feel a lot better. I wondered if that was the approach Jace would take. It would make my life easier. I think.

Ever since Jace came, I had became a tame house cat, letting him in for I guess no apparent reason. If he wanted forgiveness he would need to come crawling back with more than just roses because this time, I wasn't going to back down. Listening to Maia once and a while maybe was worth it. Compared to the mess I was yesterday, this is was a whole lot better.

I would show everyone that just because I was alone didn't mean that I wasn't strong. I put on a pair of dark jeans, a gray t-shirt and a leather jacket. Looking in the mirror, I realized that my clothes reflected on my mood, and boy people were in for a show.

As I reached school I noticed a mob in front of the doors. Climbing out of my car I see Jace surrounded by a bunch of people. This better be good. As I reached closer, I realized it wasn't just him, there was another boy. He was sprawled on the floor, his nose bleeding. Coming closer, the unknown face turned into one I recognized. Simon?

Shoving through, I knelt to the ground next to my best friend. Groaning, he propped himself up into his elbows, wiping blood from his nose. "Simon! Are you okay?"

"Perfect," he retorted. Ignoring his sarcasm and the increasing level of whispering, I helped him up. Getting fed up with people trying to mask their interest in the latest school gossip, I gave them permission.

"Oh go ahead and speak out loud, it's not like I don't know what you're talking about anyway," I snarled at the mob of students. That got them to scram.

I turned around and glared at Jace. "First me, and now my friends. What goes on in that sick mind of yours?" I spat.

He opened his mouth as if to say something sincere, but he quickly changed it into a smirk. "Wouldn't you like to know? Just for future reference, it was your friend here who decided to stick up for your sorry-" He was cut off by Simon moving in on him. "Go ahead, swing at me rat boy. I might just finally knock your nose off."

"Simon, stop," I said sternly. "What happened to you Jace? The other day you were beating up Sebastian for me and now…why did you do this?" Shit, I sounded like I was about to cry. What happened to strong?

"It's done Clary, we've hurt each other. Sebastian finally got in the way. Our past is gone and we have no future. Let it go." With those final words he left to go inside.

"And now…the moment you've all been waiting for…the season finale of…GOSSIP GIRL!" I wheeled around to see a stupid smile plastered on Simon's face. "What…your little moment here reminded me of a promo I saw on T-"

I closed my eyes, "Shut up Simon, just shut up," and we walked inside, I in frustration and him chuckling behind me totally oblivious that his nose was still bleeding. I admit, the whole thing did seem more dramatic than I intended, but it still wasn't going to make things better between me and Jace.

Glancing at my schedule to check my first class, I did a double-take and groaned. I had drama first. Just when I WANT to avoid Jace, he comes up first in my list of people to see in the morning.

I leaned back in my chair, drumming my fingers on the desk when Isabelle walked over to me. "Okay what up with the freaking twist in the so cliché but adorably cute love story? You guys are bff's one day and enemies the other over some stupid secret! It's like you're….freaking BIPOLAR! –ish."

I laughed at the sight of Isabelle freaking out. "Izzy, first of all, we weren't lovers. Second of all, why are your panties in a twist, it's our problem," I said, maybe too coolly.

"I can't believe it! You're more like Jace than I thought! Trying to act overly cool over something you're heartbroken over. Look, whatever's going on…fix it. Jace was…pleasant ever since he became friends with you. He wasn't Mr. popular who dates all the pretty girls and has the school wrapped around his finger. He was Mr. Captain of the boys swim team and friends with pretty Captain of the girl's swim team and fun!" Isabelle exclaimed, her hands waving in all directions.

"Izzy," I sighed, "he told everyone that I have no family just because Sebastian told him that I "told" everyone the secret of your sister who was…abused. He didn't trust me and that's what hurt the most. Sure everyone knows my secret, what now? No use of crying over it. I don't even know why he's mad at me, but I'm sure as hell mad at him. Look, people are staring."

She turned around to face the people who were now trying to look like they weren't eavesdropping. "Take a picture, it'll last longer!" she yelled and I held back a smile.

"I'm sorry Simon and I have been so preoccupied in our little lives that we weren't here for you, and maybe Jace and you are better off not friends. Just…come back. Be sarcastic Clary who instead of swooning over hot boys, argued with them until they peed."

I started laughing when she said that and she did too. I guess my life was back on track now, well minus Jace. That I could handle. I hoped.


	19. Megamind

**Hey guys! I haven't updated in forever I'm sorry! It would be great to get some more reviews though. I think that's what's slowing down the update pace…anyway, without further do, the next chappie!**

Megamind

Clary P.O.V.

The next couple days at school were strangely okay. There was no Jace drama or Sebastian drama either. I think Jace was avoiding me…and Sebastian was taking a break from being a creeper. Really drains your energy…all that…creeping.

Yeah, I did get sympathy and crap but I let it go through one ear and out the other with a forced smile. People don't know when to shut up sometimes. I think this whole screw up of Jace and I letting out each other's secrets was a good thing, and I'm guessing he felt that way too.

He was back on track now too. Arm around the pretty blonde girls, fist bumping the meat-head jocks and throwing charming smiles at the melting brunettes. Not to mention the jealous stares from the nerds and punks. I always imagined him doing that in slow motion with rock music playing behind him. SO teen chick flick where the popular guy falls for the shy girl and everything is right in the world with singing birds and friendly mice.

Yeah, it did feel like something was missing and I would feel a sad pang sometimes when I looked at him and was reminded of the good times we had together.

Jace and I weren't buddy-buddy but we hadn't really encountered each other since our last…argument. I didn't know what our relationship would be like if we really were forced to collaborate. Looking at my schedule I knew that the moment of truth had arrived. Drama class.

"As you guys know your short films are due next Friday so I hope you're working hard on those. If not…you better start soon. All right, today our emotions unit begins. We will be working on honing in and perfecting the way we display emotions on stage. Our first emotion is a biggie, but I think it will be fun to experiment and see how you deal with this powerful emotion. The most powerful to be exact…any guesses?" our drama teacher inquired, gesturing to the class to participate.

"Depression?" someone answered hesitantly from the back.

"Good guess…but no." I kind of zoned out at the point. Knowing, I for one, was not going to raise my hand. I loved to act because it was fun, not as a serious career option. Swimming was my number one. Letting my thoughts wander, I looked at Jace who was standing with his back against the wall, his hands in his cargo shorts.

It was painful for me to admit to myself how handsome he looked with his blonde hair, black polo shirt and cream colored cargo shorts. He looked devastatingly good. He caught me looking and gave me a sly grin. Oh, so we were playing the outsmart each other game? Bring. It. On.

He opened his notebook, tore a piece of paper out and scribbled something on it. The next thing I knew, that very piece of paper made it around the classroom via the hands of many students into mine.

_Checking me out, Red? Last time I checked, you hated me. I know it would hurt your pride to say so, but admit it. I'm irresistible._

I was about to take out my pen to reply, but I decided that leaving him hanging would torture him more. He would never guess what I was thinking. Making it obvious, I ripped up the piece of paper into the smallest pieces and sprinkled it into the trash can next to me.

"Alright, since we are getting no closer to figuring out the emotion, I'll just give it to you, it's love. Love is the strongest and most powerful emotion. And the hardest to play out on stage. The task for today is to get into partnerships, work out a little love scene and present it to the class. Since this is beginner, there will be NO kissing or ahem…sexual involvement. Understood?" Our drama teacher looked the slightest uncomfortable as a murmur of approval ran through the class. "Since we are not in middle school, I am not going to go through the trouble of giving you new partners. Your partners are and will be your film partner. If you don't like your partner, well, aren't you in a pickle? Get started!"

I mentally slapped my forehead and groaned as the smirking face of Jace made its way over to me. "Ready to be in lo-ove, Red?" he said, prolonging the word love like some would say ooh-la-la. "Oh wait, you already are."

"Cute," I said sarcastically, making a disgusted face.

"That, I am."

"The words I hate you haven't really processed in your slow mind have they?" I asked rather harshly. It didn't seem to affect him.

"Look, I don't mean to be frank with you, well actually I do. Our friendship was fun while it lasted, but remember, it was a harmless, cute friendship. You may not have noticed I don't do cute. You are tough, I'll give you that, but you will end up falling for me. Don't worry sweetheart, it's completely natural and many girls your age…and older have experienced it as well," he said smiling, giving the air of a guidance counselor.

"Hey," our teacher snapped his finger in front of us. "Stop with the hate and start making googly eyes at each other or I'll fail you. You're a boy and girl partnership so I don't want to be seeing sibling love. Catch my drift, good, now go."

Glancing at the back of our teacher I leaned in to make sure Jace was listening. "I knew from the very start you were shady. Stay out of my life and I'll stay out of yours," I whisper-yelled at him.

"Darling, it's too late for that," he breathed, pulling me close. For the first time, I felt butterflies in my stomach and my heart speed up at the close contact with him. As unfortunate as it was, I guess I liked bad and hard to get Jace than cute and friendly Jace. Oh hell, this was going to be FUN.

Passing by our teacher raised an eyebrow at us so close together.

"Love, sir, at its best," Jace explained. I shoved him away from me. If he wanted me, he was gonna have to put up a hell of a chase.

"Don't touch me," I hissed.

"Look, I don't know about you, but I don't want to fail. Plus, even though this is acting, it'll get me one step closer to achieving my goal," he said somewhat darkly.

"I am not a swim trophy that you can just achieve. PLUS, I don't have feelings for you and never will," I said confidently.

"Hmm…let's see. The day at the pool, our date with the math nerds, our almost kiss, our fantastic ditch detention date and the blush on your cheeks says otherwise."

Winning an argument with this guy was near impossible. Scratch that, it was impossible. I just wanted to get this stupid thing over with.

"Okay, you know what. Two things. One, shut up. Two, let's get this damn thing over with," I snapped.

"Hey I don't want to pretend love you as much as you want to pretend love me," he said, his hands raised.

"I thought you said you were gonna make me fall for you," I said suspiciously.

"Yeah, doesn't mean I'm gonna fall for you too," he scoffed. He was making me madder by the second.

"Okay! Everybody gather in the back of the stage so each pair can go the middle and perform. Uhh…you guys, go," our teacher indicated to the pair on the far left. SHIT! We had nothing planned! This was ALL his fault. I glared at him and he smiled.

"Do you have a plan, Mr. Smooth move?" I asked, outraged.

"Yep."

I stared at him, waiting for more.

"To wing it."

My furious expression might have let it show that I don't want to be a fool in front of the whole class.

"Hopefully you've heard of improv," he said calmly. Damn his ability to stay cool 24/7.

"If I look like a fool, you're going down Wayland," I warned.

"Oooh, I'm shaking in my custom baby seal leather boots!"

"Leave it to you to quote Megamind. Really Jace?"

"You love it, Red." I rolled my eyes to show how I annoyed I was with him. How were we ever friends? Oh right. He was FAKING it. Huh, this whole acting thing should be a piece of cake for him shouldn't it?

The pair did some cheesy love at first sight thing and got half-hearted applause. Hah, suckers.

"Great, now you two," he said pointing at Jace and I. We HAD to second didn't we? "Yeah, you guys have amazing chemistry." The sarcasm was getting a little too much handle from, now, our DRAMA TEACHER.

Jace bent down and whispered in my ear, "We're gonna do jealousy. I got jealous seeing you with a guy, I do something stupid and run out of the place. You follow me, we have our big fight confessing our love to each other. Got it?" I blinked and let it all run through my head, then nodded.

"Go."

"Alright, what was that all about?" I started, acting mad and confused.

"All what about?" Jace asked calmly and innocently.

"You punched my date! Ring a bell?" I said instantly. Wow this improv thing was coming to me more easily than I expected.

"You had nothing to do with that, he was pissing me off," Jace shrugged.

"Care to explain?"

"He…spilled a drink on me," Jace said, making it look like he was thinking hard for an excuse. Hate to admit it, but he was a pretty good actor.

"So you punched him, yeah, makes PERFECT sense," I said waving my hands in frustration.

"What do you want to hear from me?" he exclaimed.

"Why are you yelling at me?" I yelled, acting taken aback. "What I want to hear is the truth! Why you've been acting like this ever since I got a boyfriend! Let me remind you, I don't do anything when you have your arm slung around three slutty girls ALL at one time!" I let out a mild rampage, suddenly realizing some of what I said was true.

"You don't get it do you!" he yelled. "You think I like it when I see you with a guy other than me? All this time I've been trying to make you jealous! All those girls are an excuse to make you look at me!" he turned around, running a hand through his hair. I think he got a haircut, it was medium, messy short. Very cute. Agh, I was losing my focus!

"Jonathan…" I started my voice soft. "Why didn't you tell me this before? It would have saved me a lot of time convincing myself I wasn't in love with you."

Jace slowly turned around, his face lit up. Acting…just acting. "Well now you don't have to. I love you Clarissa, more than anything in the world and I want you to be mine." His eyes looked pure, his smile was genuine and I could feel myself falling. Get a grip Clary, the boy is acting.

"I'm all yours."

"And scene," Jace said bowing. Everyone erupted in applause and I realized the class was deathly silent while we were doing our scene. Some girls were even wiping their eyes! We must have done a pretty damn good job! I smiled and bowed.

"Well, you two have done a pretty good job. You know, maybe you guys don't hate each other as much as you think you do," our teacher said, a playful glint in his eye. Talk about awkward.

"I told you'd fall for me," Jace said, grinning cheekily.

My jaw hardened. No matter how much my heart raced or my stomach flipped, I still hated him. Hated him for his fake friendship, for him coming on the verge of ruining my life. Not to mention telling my weakness to the boy who swore on getting revenge on me.

"Wipe that smile off your face before I slap you and there is no way in HELL and back that I will fall for you, got it pretty boy? Leave me alone." I glared at him one last time before the bell rang and I stomped off.

Jace P.O.V.

She was pissing me off. And not in a cute way. Yeah sure I was acting all cocky and sly to make her think I was going easy. I was gonna make her fall hard and I was probably going to end up breaking her heart. And I didn't give a damn. I missed what we had before but that was all ruined when she decided to tell Sebastian about my sister. I'm not so sure now whether she did or did not tell him but I was leaning towards, she did.

It was going to take work, but I like a good challenge.

Clary P.O.V.

"Yello!" Simon said sliding into the seat next to me at lunch and bumping my shoulder. I swallowed a mouthful of orange juice before answering.

"Yello. Seriously Simon, no one says yello anymore."

"I do. I'm bringing it back baby! Plus, its sexy." He glanced up at Isabelle who sat in the seat across from me at our table. "Hey, Iz. Saying yello is sexy, yes?"

"No?" Isabelle said with a look that said BOY, YOU CRAY-CRAY. I nearly spit out another mouthful of orange juice trying not to laugh at her expression.

"Oh no. One thing you should never do is make Clary laugh when she drinking something. She has the _hardest _time swallowing before she laughs. If she doesn't make, boy things get ugly. Once she was drinking punch and she tried to hold back a laugh and ended up spray-"I clamped my hand over Simon's laughing mouth before he could finish.

Isabelle looked amused. "No no no. I wanna know the end to this. Go ahead Simon."

Simon wrenched my hand away and tried to stop laughing before he continued. "Spraying it all over Aiden Blake's shirt at the eighth grade dance."

"NO! Si! Traitor! God, that was so embarrassing." I covered my face with my hands as Simon doubled over laughing from the memory. Even Isabelle was laughing. "I could feel about fifty people cringing while that happened," I groaned.

"Yeah and to make it worse you had a major crush on him," Simon said.

"Yes, Simon thank you for elaborating. No, but seriously he was so cute. Tall, curly brown hair, green eyes, the cutest smile. Too bad he was gay."

Isabelle started coughing on her water while Simon choked on his sandwich. "What?" they yelled in unison. I pointed at them and started laughing like a little girl.

"I'm kidding! Wow you totally fell for that. I expect more from you," I said matter-of-factly.

"Ha ha. Good one, Fray," Simon grumbled.

"So what happened to him?" Isabelle inquired.

"What?"

"Aiden…? What happened to him?"

"Oh he moved to Canada."

"Aw, who knew saliva infested punch could make such an impact on the poor boy," Isabelle giggled. I made a face her and she smiled sweetly back. Then suddenly her smile disappeared.

"God Jace is back together again with that Kaelie girl. Her voice gives me a headache." I turned around to see Jace with his arm around Kaelie and the rest of his posse following close behind. I did hate Jace's guts but it would be way easier to do so if it didn't look like God spent extra time sculpting his more than perfect features.

"Yeah, whatever, I have nothing to do with him or her anymore," I said, turning back to my sandwich and taking a bite.

"Clary, couldn't you go and like become friends with him again? I mean its not like what happened between you two was even that serious."

"Alright, maybe it wasn't but even though we used to be really good friends, something kept coming between us. Our pasts just don't agree to collaborate with us. We are not meant to be, you know?" I shrugged, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

"Clary, he cares about you. I have no idea why, but he does. Maybe because you don't wear shorts that show your butt to actually have a personality," Isabelle argued.

"There are plenty of people like that around the school, so why me? Besides, he doesn't care for me anymore, so…case closed, kay?" I said, getting bored of the subject.

"No, that's the point. Out of all the decent and pretty girls, he chose you. Why? Because your meant to be!" Isabelle said, exasperated.

"Okay, hold on. Are we still talking about friendship, or _relationship_? Because if it's the latter, don't even think about going there."

"Hey guys…yeah, hi. I'm still sitting here. For once, I wanna be somewhere where Wayland is NOT discussed. I'm going to get something, if he's still being talked about I'm not sitting with you," Simon groaned and left to get a snack from the front of the cafeteria.

I nodded, "He's right. I don't want to talk about him so Iz, do me a favor and don't bring him up."

"Don't bring who up?" a voice said behind me.

"Jace," Isabelle said brightly. I glared at her and turned to talk to Jace.

"That, is none of your business," I snapped.

"Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear," Simon grumbled with a cookie in his hand.

Jace grinned, figuring out that we were talking about him. "And why, other than my usual godly qualities, was I the topic of discussion today?"

"Oh we were just discussing how you were a douche and how we should stick your massive ego up your ass," I replied calmly.

"Oh Clare-bear what foul language use. I am disappointed in you," he said, touching my shoulder.

"Yeah, Jace darling, before I embarrass you in front of everybody here, I suggest that you never touch me again, never call me that again, and never come here again. Please leave," I said with sugary sweetness.

His eyes narrowed and I felt the pleasure of annoying him. Before he could answer, the next most douchiest guy ever came to where Jace was standing. Why?

"Hey guys, having a party over here, hm?" he drawled.

"Sebastian, leave and take Jace with you. You hate me and the feeling is mutual, with the both of you. Go." I snapped, getting tired of the drama in my life.

"Or what?" they said at the same time, which was really, really creepy. I needed to get rid of them. Quick as lightening, I grabbed my orange juice and Simon's milk and poured it over both boys heads. Then I grabbed my sandwich, opened it and put a slice of bread cheese and lettuce on both of the heads.

"Here's some food and drink to accompany you and your journey back to asshole land."

They both stood there, their mouths open with juice sliding of Jace's hair and milk sliding of Sebastian's. they grabbed the sandwich of their heads and kept standing there, fuming. "Have you still not gotten the message?"

"You just turned the difficulty level up a notch Clarissa Fray. There is no going easy on you now," Jace snarled.

I smiled and said the only thing that should be said at that moment. "Oooh, I'm _shaking_ in my custom baby seal leather boots."


	20. Pissed

**Hey guys! This is kind of a filler chapter, leading up to some juicy stuff. So please don't give up on me! I would love some more reviews telling me what you think about the direction this story is taking. So please note, this is a FILLER CHAPTER, nothing really special is going on here. I really like Clace arguments with like some sexual tension if you know what I mean, so that will be coming up. So, um, tell me what you think and enjoy!**

Pissed

Simon stifled a laugh as the boys walked away grumbling. I gave him a knowing smirk and turned back to the table like nothing had ever happened.

"You," Isabelle started, "probably are dealing with the most boy drama than any other girl in the school."

"Yeah, well not entirely my fault. You need to knock some sense into that jerkish brother of yours," I argued back.

"Like he listens to anybody. I mean when was the last time you hung out with a girl?"

I had to think hard for that one. I really didn't remember. "I dunno…"

Isabelle slammed her palm on the table. "That's it. You're sleeping over at my place, no questions asked."

"Can I come?" Simon piped up. Isabelle rolled her eyes and pecked him on the cheek before saying no.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask, how was the date? I'm assuming it was a total disaster," I said sarcastically. My two friends laughed blushing slightly.

"Something like that," Isabelle said shyly.

"Awkward. Anyway, back to the matter at hand, the answer is no," I said confidently.

"What?"

"No, I am not sleeping over at your house. Jace has sworn to ruin my life, particularly after that," I said pointing to the puddle of orange juice and milk on the floor. People were still whispering about the little "accident".

"Oh he wont bother us, I promise. Plus, you have no other girls around except for Maia who is in Maine. Yeah your swim team friends are great, but not exactly your type, you know?" Isabelle tried to reason. She was right, I missed some girl time, gushing over hot boys, painting our nails, gossiping. Maybe it wouldn't hurt.

"Alright, fine, I'll come over," I gave in.

"YES!" she squealed and a whole lot of people turned their heads to look at us.

"You know," I said loudly, "some people just don't know how to mind their own businesses, right Izzy?"

"Oh totally," she said, equally as loudly. We started to laugh and Simon just shook his head at us. Just then a group of track boys came over to our table. We were popular today.

"Hey Simon, a bunch of us are hanging out at Troy's tonight, wanna come?" a tall boy with blonde hair said.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, smiling.

"Cool, see you soon, man," the guy said, clapping him on the back.

"Ooh, my wittle Simon's all gwown up!" I squealed and Simon swatted my arm.

"Shut up, I actually have a life now, don't ruin it for me," he said sternly.

"Yeah, yeah, just make sure we hang out sometimes too," I stated.

"About that what happened to Friday, hm?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Friday was the blow up day remember, Jace and I had our huge fight," I said trying to jog his pathetically slow memory.

"Riiight, okay so how about this Friday?" Simon offered hopefully.

"Friday it is," I said brightly. We spent about five more minutes making small talk before the lunch bell rang again and we all went to our separate classes.

I was on my way to Spanish when Coach Melrose called me over. "Clarissa, I haven't been seeing you at practices lately, what's going on?"

Shit, I hadn't been paying any attention to swimming lately. "Sorry coach, I promise I'll step up my game." Swimming had been completely off my mind these past few days which was unusual. See what Jace does to you, I scolded myself.

"Yeah, you better. However to make up for your skipped practices, I've scheduled some sessions with Wayland. You need the training for Sydney."

"What? No! I promise I'll come and do better…ha coach…haha there is no need for the sessions with him," I said, trying to laugh it off.

"You should have thought of that before, three sessions, today, tomorrow and Thursday five to eight got it?" Coach said roughly.

"Yes, Coach," I said groaning.

"Oh and remind Wayland that he may be the best but if he cuts class or skips one more detention, he's off the team." With those words, Coach left me standing on the side of the hallway. Off the team? Being kicked off a Scarlen team is like being expelled! I would enjoy telling him this news. I didn't want to get him expelled, just the idea of scaring him a little would be fun.

Knowing he would be somewhere in the halls with a girl or his group of air-head jocks, I didn't have to look very hard. I spotted him leaning against a wall playing with a blushing blonde's hair and whispering things in her ear, making her giggle. I rolled my eyes and swallowed my disgust walking over to him.

It angered me how FAKE our stupid friendship ever was. He probably had fun toying with me. Jerk. "Wayland," I called. I didn't feel we were civil enough to be on first name terms. He turned to see who it was and suddenly donned an irritated look.

"What do you want loner?" he sneered. "I already told you, guys like me don't go out with girls like you."

Apparently, that was really funny to the blonde on top of him and she had a giggle fit. I glared at her. "Is something funny?"

"Yeah, you," she said intelligently.

"You know, I haven't really seen you in any of my classes. Oh right, I'm in all honors. No surprise there," I said cheerfully. That wiped the laugh right off her face.

"I-" she started but Jace cut her off.

"Look, go whining to your mommy and daddy about your non-existing love life, not me," he said before catching himself. He was an asshole but even he knew that was a touchy subject.

I knew I was over the death of my parents, but the memory was a bit too much to handle. When he said it, it angered me all the more. HE was the one spread it all around school, how could he forget? And now he could just go around acting like everything was okay?!

The blonde girl scoffed. "Like she has one."

That was it. Jace had his fingers on the bridge of his nose muttering swears.

"What, did you just say?" I asked in a deathly soft voice.

"Clary, I-" Jace started, but I cut him off. I did not want to see his or the girl's face for more than thirty seconds.

"Look, the only reason I even came to talk to you was to let you know that if you want your sorry little ass to stay on the team then you're gonna have to stop cutting class. One more ditch and you're off. You know, I should have just let you cut class one more time and suffered the consequences, Jace. Since you owe me one, do me a favor and stay out of my life. I don't want to see your face," I concluded my angry little speech and stormed in the other direction, sloppily wiping the single tear that had formed in my eye.

I used to think that Jace understood me for being in almost the same situation, but I guess that was all an act too. I screamed in frustration at myself to have ever fallen for that douche's trap. Ugh!

I realllllly did not want to show up for my little private practice but I knew I needed it. I wasn't expecting Wayland to show up, but a little practice by myself wouldn't hurt in winning gold in Sydney. Sydney was a big deal. It was almost like a mini-olympics. If you did well there, Olympics were just over the next hill. I had been training for years and years knowing that one day I would be competing in Sydney.

Last year I had not even gotten a medal which was crushing, but at the same time, motivating. I knew that I wanted gold and I was going to get it. Jace had screwed up my focus. I thought at first, hey, we're friends, he's a kick-ass swimmer, we can swim together, it will be fun, I'll get a little extra training, Syndey, here I come, but no. That was not the plan. Sebastian came along, Jace told me he obviously didn't trust me, tells the whole school the secret I had been hiding forever. My life and training is screwed up in one week. It sucks.

There was only one month left until the competition. I had to step up my training. So I went.

My swim cap was fit on my head and I pressed my goggles tightly onto my eyes. I closed my eyes and focused. I'm doing this for Sydney. I'm doing this for the Olympics. I'm doing this for the dream of seeing a gold medal display in my room. I'm doing this to be an inspiration for kids world wide to pursue their dreams. I'm doing this for my future. I'm doing this for me.

I jumped up and down a few times and looked around. Jace was nowhere to be found. I expected that. The timer in the pool was preset. The whistle was going to go off in about two minutes and I wanted to see a difference in my time. I doubted that it would happen, considering I hadn't swam in two and a half weeks, but a shred of hope was there.

I flexed my arms and legs, breathing in and out. I positioned myself on the staring block, staring straight into the water, completely focused. I heard the whistle and took off. I was doing a 200m Freestyle swim. I would stay consistent the first 100 and then power ahead. That's what I was built for, that's how I swam.

I was panting at the end of my 200 and was pleased to see that even though I hadn't beaten my time, I was still consistent. I smiled to myself and got out of the water to get a quick drink when I heard a voice behind me.

"Impressive." I frowned. That voice was unpleasantly familiar. Wheeling around, I turned to see Jace, swimming shorts on, shirt off, cap and goggles in a hand. I had seen him shirtless many times, but it was physically impossible not to stare at those perfect abs. He could make Michael Phelps jealous.

My eyes quickly snapped up to his equally flawless face. "Why are you here, I thought I made myself pretty clear?" I growled.

He grinned making me all the more irritated. "Now, I couldn't leave a fellow team member, could I?"

"I don't need your help," I hissed. I think it was his stupid grin making me really angry. Or it was just him, in general.

"Yeah, yeah. Look Clary, I don't like you anymore. What we had before, I don't know what that was, it was weird. You're gonna have to stop acting like you're the only one with problems and suck it up. I don't want to be here any more than you do, however, I do want to kick some major ass in Sydney as a team, so here I am," he finished.

Well that was one thing we had in common, the thirst to kick butt. "Fine," was all I said before he beat me to pulp with his near impossible drills.

My arms slapped the water as I barely finished my last length of butterfly. I breathed a sigh of relief as I hit the wall, closing my eyes, my heart beating rapidly.

"Again."

I opened my eyes in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, go again. You want to show the Frenchies, Germans and Aussies who's boss, you're gonna do this drill again, faster. Go," Jace ordered. I gritted my teeth and started the drill again, ignoring the pain and the fact that I was completely drained of energy.

He wanted to see me suffer? NOT going to happen. I could see why Jace was the best junior in the country. I remember coach giving me a little background info on him. Turns out he's gotten a little advice from Poseidon himself, meaning Phelps.

I was the best female junior in the country and I couldn't believe I was going to let that title go over some boy. That title gave me strength and I powered through butterfly.

Jace's eyes were a little wide as I finished, but quickly regained his composure. I smiled to myself knowing I had done a good job.

I took a sip out of my water bottle when I heard the pool door open. I was completely in shock at what I saw. Kaelie and Sebastain were furiously making out, completely unaware that they were not alone.

I stifled a laugh and sneaked a glance at Jace who looked like he couldn't care less. Oh right, I forgot, I was looking at Jace Wayland, the playah. I loudly cleared my throat and the two swiveled around, not looking the least bit embarrassed. Then Kaelie saw Jace, her mouth turning into an o shape.

"Jace!" she paused, stalling. "A-are you cheating on me? With her?" she squeaked out.

Not caring, I laughed out loud. Turning to Jace I said, "Yeah, I'm the one with the non-existent love life. Score one for Wayland, perfect girlfriend."

"Oh look, it's Clarissa," Sebastian sneered. I looked at him, disgusted. "You know, there was no need to go through the trouble of decorating my car."

"I'm not scared of you, Verlac," I shot back.

"You really want that gold medal, huh? It would be a pity if…something happened to get in the way," he said.

Suddenly I felt someone beside me. I looked to see Jace fully clothed. No wonder he was so silent, he was changing. It wasn't normal for Jace to be in the same room as Sebastian and not get his hands on him once.

"You're off," he said, a smirk playing on his lips.

"What was that, Captain?" Sebastain asked, as if making fun of Jace as Captain.

"You know, understanding my position on the team, makes this so much easier. That means you understand that as captain of the team, I have the power to eliminate any factors I find as a threat to our performance at such a high level of competition. Which is why, you, smart-ass, are off the team," Jace said coolly.

Despite hating Jace with a burning passion, I couldn't help but smile at the rate of how quickly Sebastain's smirk turned into a frown.

"You can start by cleaning out your locker."

Still smiling, I decided it was time for me to leave and I headed towards the exit.

"Hey Red," Jace called. He jogged up to where I was standing. "Don't think that me helping you out here is because I care." He said the word care like it was a disease. "You are Captain of the girls, and you have slacked off from your responsibility and I found it most appropriate to get you back on track for Sydney, it's time you got serious."

I looked at him completely bewildered. "What are you, British? What about you?! Don't go all fancy on me with responsibility, Jace. You're the one with the warning, not me. I have nothing going for me except for swimming, okay? My friends are eventually going to grow up, start families and share happy moments while I am out there swimming my heart out. You know, when you came along, I thought, hey, someone like me, someone who I can connect with, but no. You put on an act and fooled me, congrats Wayland," I said haughtily. That ought to sting a little, I hoped.

"Thanks, see you tomorrow Red. Get ready for some real pain."

It was not possible to put in words, how pissed I was at that moment.

**So how did you like this info chapter? Good? Bad? Anyway Review! **

**Coming up:**

**More training sessions, day with simon, sleepover at Isabelle (dun dun dun, Jace is gonna be there hint hint), SYDNEY COMPETITION! **

**Stay tuned and review…I dare you.**

**P.S. Do any of you guys watch New Girl? Review if you totally think Jess and Nick are made for each other!**


	21. Game On

**Hey guys! 300 reviews! I am like gushing, it totally made my day! I want to let you guys know that I read every single one of my reviews, so I am taking your feedback into consideration. So, as you have noticed, the story is taking a new and very different turn that wasn't exactly supposed to happen. But what can I do? I love me some Clace war. So…yeah. I am not sure exactly how many more chapters there are going to be, but there is a lot of plot to cover, so not anytime soon. If you're all like, ugh, just kiss already, I totally get you, but I like a kiss with emotion, not just you're hot and I'm gonna kiss you, ya know? That's pretty much it, I hope you guys like the new chapter! Enjoy!**

Game On

That morning I woke up wishing I was Spiderman. I just wanted to smash that little alarm clock into a million pieces and have super strength and speed and little gooey globs of spider-web stuff to shoot Jace in the place where the sun don't shine. That would be nice.

Unfortunately, I wasn't Spiderman, so I told myself to ignore the ache in my muscles and drag myself to school. I groaned as I took each agonizing step. Jace had beaten the crap out of me. I pulled into the parking lot and blindly walked to the front of school, where I finally noticed a giant banner. It spelled out CONGRATS CAPTAIN in big letters with our swim team logo on either side.

Well, there were only two major captains and I was guessing that the team would not go through all this effort just for me. Reluctantly, I walked on in to discover what miracle Wayland had worked this time.

I saw the familiar back of Simon's head and tapped him on the shoulder. He swiveled around in surprise. "Hey," he said brightly.

"Hey, so what's up with the Congrats Captain thing?" I asked, adjusting my bag strap on my shoulder.

"Hm, I don't know. Nobody knows except for the boys swim team. They're asking all swim members to go to the pool," Simon said, pointing to the flyer on the wall. It pointed towards the pool saying 'ALL SWIM TEAM MEMBERS TO POOL'

"Alright, thanks, I'll see you later, Si."

"Later, Fray," he replied. I half walked, half jogged to the pool area, eager to find out what was the huge event. As soon as I walked in I heard blasting music and people jumping and diving into the pool. We were having a party? In school? At eight in the morning? Wtf?

I looked around to spot Lindsay laughing with a cup of punch in her hand. "Hey, what's going on?" I asked her above the loud music.

"You didn't hear?" she shouted. I shook my head and gestured for her to continue. "Jace is going to Olympic Trials this summer! Isn't that insane!"

I could feel my head exploding. "WHAT?! How? When?" I asked frantically for answers.

"Well, technically his performance at Sydney would decide that, but he went to some intense meet the other day with the country's best junior swimmers and he placed first. But, his time was so good he blew them away and they got him an immediate slot at the trials. They think he's the next Phelps, maybe better!" she squealed.

I slowly shook my head, trying to convince myself that this wasn't happening. It was my life-long dream to compete in the Olympics when I was still a teenager, and getting into Scarlen had gotten my hopes up. Then Jace just shows up, swims for a few months here and gets a trial slot?!

"Hey, Red. Glad you could make it."

I groaned. I realllly did not need this right now. "What?" I snapped.

"You know, instead of snapping at me like that, you should consider yourself lucky," he drawled in that annoyingly confident voice.

"And why is that?" I asked, trying to keep my cool.

"You'll be training with an Olympian now, opportunity of a lifetime. Don't worry though, you'll get a chance. In a couple years," he smirked.

I felt my ager boiling inside of me, ready to explode. "Well, Mr. Olympian, we'll see how you can compete when you're off the Scarlen team, leave alone Team USA."

"You really think you're gonna be able to catch me cutting class?" he said, chuckling.

My eyes widened. "So you're still doing it? Getting you off the team will be easier than I expected, thanks Wayland."

He snickered. "Is that a threat, Red?"

I gave him a stone cold glare right into his golden eyes. "Nope. It's a promise."

TIME BREAK

Jace really didn't seem to be getting the message. What part of stay away from me, does he not understand? I didn't know why his words were affecting me so much. I should just ignore him, but it was hard. His words were getting to me and were making me feel terrible. This had to stop.

"Cllllary!" Isabelle said in a sing-song voice, approaching me in homeroom. "Guess what? Jace is going to Olympic Trials! Like WHAT! It's sooooo awesome! Clary? Yoohoo!"

I snapped out of my reverie to see Isabelle hand waving in front of my face. "Hm?"

Isabelle rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Jace-"

"I know I know. Do me a favor and tell Jace to really stay away from me, because if he makes me anymore pissed, bad things will happen. Things that I will regret, okay?" ignoring Isabelle's attempt to squirm information out of me, I stood up and walked into the hallway, taking deep breaths.

So what if Jace got a slot? I will do great at Sydney and get a slot myself. There is no need to worry. No…need. Right?

Jace P.O.V.

Clary seemed to be really ticked off from this morning. As much as I hate to admit it, making her pissed was actually really fun. She got these flames in her eyes that were deathly but alluring at the same time. Sweet Clary was fun, but angry Clary was better. I knew I was more than capable of pushing her buttons. Now I just had to see if I could get her to fall for me at the same time.

I saw her talking to Isabelle and glancing at me. Just before she could turn her head back to Isabelle, I winked at her and waited for a blush. None. Impressive.

Just as I was about to walk over to them, the damn bell rang. I walked out of the class contemplating whether I should go to class or not. I groaned remembering the threat of the expulsion so graciously given to me by Ms. Fray.

I shoved a hand into my pocket and walked as slowly as I could without looking awkward. I nearly fell over when Izzy crashed into me, grabbing my hand and dragging me to the girl's bathroom.

"Uh, Izzy, it's pretty hard not to notice I'm a guy," I said.

"Which is exactly why I need to talk to you. Why do all guys need to be assholes?" she erupted in my face.

"Alright, what's this about?"

"You know exactly what this is about! You obviously care about Clary, so stop acting like you don't and stop giving her hell! Did you have to rub it in her face about your Olympic trial?"

I closed my eyes. So this is what it's about. I decided to tell Izzy the truth because I think I was lying to myself.

"Izzy, honestly I don't know what I feel for Clary. She messes me up! She confuses me! I mean I hate her bitchy attitude sometimes, but I love it too. She has this badass tough girl side and this amazing fun girl side. I hate and love both. Feeling two strong emotions at the same time for one girl is something I can't afford. Hating someone is easier than loving them, so I guess I choose that. Plus, being a douche can be SO fun," I finished on a light note. Saying all that was tough for me. I hated revealing how I felt.

"Jace, give loving her a shot-"

"Wait, I never said I loved her, I just said I love some sides of her. Besides, she despises me. None of my charm works on her. It did in the beginning…"

"Jace, the beginning meant nothing and you know that! Every time you met a girl, you'd be all cutsey with her and take her out for these amazing dates that'd blow her away. And then you'd 'dump' her and move on. That's how it started with Clary! You guys flirted, you acted jealous of her and beat up guys that hurt her-"

It wasn't acting. Looking at Izzy's shocked expression, I'm guessing I said that out loud. Well, shit.

"And here you are saying that you should hate her, man what goes on in your brain?!" she asked in exasperation.

"Izzy, she isn't the totally sweet girl you think she is. Yeah it drives me mad, but she's evil. Eeeevviiiillll," I said, prolonging the word.

"You guys have the weirdest love-hate relationship EVER!"

"It isn't love-hate, it's hate," I muttered.

"Alright, give me one good reason to hate her," Izzy said defiantly.

"Well, she acts like she's the only one going through the pain of her parents' deaths. She acts like she's superior and more vulnerable at the same time!" I argued.

"Jace, she lost her whole family and lives with no one. You have me, Alec and Max. Plus, you just don't like her attitude because she doesn't blush and gush over you like 99% of this school's girl population," she argued back. I didn't know how long this was going to last.

"She used to."

"Yeah and then she realized, wait a minute, Jace is um…oh yeah, a douche," Izzy said, glaring at me.

"You know what, Isabelle? Clary and I have been through the whole cute, flirty friendship thing and look how that turned out. I guess this is the way things were meant to be, so quit trying to make a soft spot for Clary, because it isn't going to happen. We are done here, goodbye," I said, making a farewell salute and swerving out of the girls' bathroom.

I hated thinking about her, because one, I never thought about a girl more than five minutes, and two, it was confusing me even more. Do I act like this because I like her? Argh!

I stopped at my locker, the thoughts of her still floating around. I absently did my combination and swung open the door. No sooner did I open it, I felt about a dozen hard things fall on my head and crack open. I closed my eyes as a thick, cold gooey liquid ran down my hair and face.

I wiped the slime from my eyes and found a note sitting neatly on top of the stacks of books I never bothered to open.

_Skipping breakfast is not gonna help you in Olympic Training. I figured the eggs could fry on your oh so hot body. Enjoy!_

_-R_

R? I tried to think of all the names I knew that started with R. Well, only the swim team knew about it, so I narrowed down to the R's on the team. There weren't any, not that I knew of. Then it hit me. Obviously, it was Clary. Except she was clever enough to sign it with the name I gave her. Smart.

What the hell was I complimenting her for?! She set up a bunch of eggs to fall on my head and I probably looked like a clown in front of the whole school! I gritted my teeth and slammed my locker shut. First the juice, then the sandwich, now freaking EGGS?!

Oh, she asked for it. This just got dirty.

Clary P.O.V.

I tried hard not to laugh at the sight of Jace walking to the bathroom with a head full of egg yolk. I had let my anger get the better of me and I guess knowing the lunch ladies came in handy after all. Like a therapist would say, I thought I needed to channel my negative energy towards a little healthy competition. This, was a protein filled one. Satisfied, I walked towards my own locker and opened it without caution.

I had the upper hand, there was no way that Jace could have arranged something in there that fast. Upon opening it, I realized I was wrong. A sloppily folded note fell out of my locker, floating to the floor.

I bent down to pick it up and slowly unfolded it. In big red letters came the two words that changed my high school experience forever.

GAME ON.


	22. Wicked Witch

**Hey guys! This one is kind of a filler too, I'm just building up to the big Syndey event and a lot will happen there so stay tuned. I know it looks like Clary is suffering blow after blow, but don't worry, she has big plans for Jace, not in this chapter but the next. So I cleared up some stuff like Clary isn't at work because she has a paid vacation, there are three weeks until Sydney, yada yada. THERE WILL BE A KISS SOMEWHERE AROUND SYDNEY MAYBE EARLIER OR LATER, BUT FEAR NOT, THERE WILL BE ONE! So, um, tell me what you think and uh yeah. Tell me if you like where this is going or not. Is it good? REVIEW—or you will face a terrible fate. (cackle cackle) Enjoy my lovelies! (said in a high witch voice)**

Wicked Witch

I stared at the sloppily ripped piece of paper like it was sent from hell. Then I figured it probably was. I really didn't know what Jace was trying to prove, but our relationship was so complicated, it was beyond the explanation of a Facebook status.

I crumpled the paper up and tossed it into the trash bin feeling satisfied that it actually fell straight in. Jace wanted to play? I was all game. Then I realized that I had the overwhelming stress of Sydney hanging dangerously above my head and I decided to call a truce.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO

"I'm calling a truce."

Jace's blonde head turned around to face me. "Ah, Red. How pleased I am to be of your service today. Please, I beg you to burden me with one of your many favors." I tried not to pay any attention of his straight white teeth and the annoyingly adorable dimples and I failed miserably. You hate the guy, remember?!

"Jace, shut up and listen. I am already in over my head about Sydney and school work, not to mention the film project we decided to completely ignore…and, I don't need this hate competition right now." I hated sounded weak and desperate but it was hard to mask it.

"Let me think…um, no," he replied turning back around and starting to walk away.

My eyes widened. The nerve of him! I jogged up to follow him.

"Are you even human?!" I asked, outraged. He stopped suddenly and I almost crashed into him.

"Look Clare bear, you started it, more than once may I remind you and I'm competing at Sydney too, so don't try to weasel sympathy out of me," he leaned to whisper in my ear, "cause it aint happening."

"UGH!" I gave a frustrated scream, stomping my foot and racing off in the other direction. I could hear him laughing as he called behind me.

"Don't hate the playah, hate the game!"

I rushed to my coach's office, hoping to make my life a little more bearable. "Coach!" I exhaled in relief, gratified that I didn't have to look all over school to find him.

"Clary, you okay? You shouldn't have any additional stress before the big competition, you know that right?" he asked nervously and I could feel my temper rising. I swallowed it, knowing it would help me squeeze out a favor.

"Which is exactly why I am here. Could you please explain to the drama teacher that the delay in the film project is because of swim practice and the stress and that I completely forgot about it? Jace, being a swimmer, helps my case." I nodded confidently, but inside, my stomach was clenched in a knot, fearing the worst.

Coach closed his eyes and then opened them. "Okay-"

"YES!" I squealed, jumping up and down. The knot untwisted.

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I gushed, giving Coach a hug before I rushed off to English.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO

I always spent the remaining five minutes last period zoning out and thinking about what I had in store for the remainder of the day. I felt my stomach sink as it dawned on me that I had another practice with Jace today. He kept reappearing in my life, when I really just wanted to boogey him outta there.

The five minutes finally ended and I swung my backpack around my shoulder, joining the pool of people in the hallway as the bell rang. I decided to go straight to the pool and get some easy swimming in before five.

Grabbing my swim bag from the locker room, I spread my things out, quickly pulling on my swimsuit and goggles, leaving my cap and towel behind. Sometimes I just loved the feeling of cool water flowing through my hair.

I absently swam, doing lap after lap, lost in my deep thoughts and before I knew it, it was five. I was hoping Jace didn't show up, but no. He had to choose this time to become responsible didn't he?

"Here early. So eager to see me, huh?" he grinned.

"Yep, and your oh-so-hot body," I said, not bothering to hide the grin of my own.

He scowled and I figured he was remembering the pain of washing out raw eggs from his hair. "Get your cap, we have no time to lose," Jace growled.

"Yes, sir," I replied, still grinning as I jogged into the locker room and swiftly grabbed my cap. As I pulled it on, I felt a cool sensation on my scalp and figured it was just the water.

Jace has a stupid smile on his face as I jumped back into the water. "What are you laughing about?" I asked irritably.

"You'll find out soon enough," was all he said before he started barking drills at me.

I was once again, utterly exhausted by the end of my practice. Jace slowly walked over and sat down at the edge of the pool, dipping his feet in.

"I wouldn't get in if I were you. Your poor hair has gone through enough washing," I said gleefully.

Too my surprise he laughed, "My hair-washing is nothing compared to how many times you're gonna want to wash yours."

"What are you talking about, eggy?"

"New nicknames huh? I'll see you tomorrow, seaweed."

Without saying another word, he disappeared into the boys locker room. I shook my head and went into my locker room, ripping off my swim cap and enjoying the hot water. I walked out, wrapped in a towel and past the mirrors when I did a double take.

I walked closer to a mirror, opened my mouth and screamed.

I threw on my clothes as fast as I could and bolted out the door, scanning the area furiously for that vile creature.

Then I spotted him, backing out of his parking space in his million dollar car. Where he got that money, I don't know, and I didn't care.

"JACE FREAKING ASS-FREAKING SHIT HOLE BASTARD WAYLAND? WHAT THE FREAKING HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" I screamed, further more infuriated by the look of calm on his face.

"It really brings out your eyes, don't you think?" he said coolly and I felt the urge to throw a rock at him. Only problem was, I didn't have one. Before I could find one and chuck it at him, he sped off onto the main street. Freaking coward.

I went home as fast as I could possibly get there and called Isabelle. She answered on the fourth ring and I let it all go. "ISABELLE, TELL YOUR BASTARD OF A BROTHER TO GET IN LINE!"

"Woah, Clary what happened? What'd he do?!" she asked frantically.

"HE FREAKING PUT FREAKING HAIR DYE IN MY FREAKING SWIM CAP IN THE FREAKING GIRLS LOCKER ROOM AND NOW MY HAIR IS FREAKING GREEN! Okay, let's figure this out. Who has the upper hand here. I pour juice in his hair, he gets an Olympic slot, I throw eggs on his head, he FREAKING GOES AND DYES MY HAIR GREEN! I DO REVERSABLE THINGS AND HE GOES AND PERMANENTLY RUINS MY LIFE? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HIM?!" I screamed into the phone. The neighbors were probably going to complain later. I'd tell them to screw off.

"WHAT?!" Isabelle sounded furious on the phone. "That is an all time low. Hang on a second?"

I heard yelling for the next three minutes and wondered if I sounded like that to Isabelle. I felt a little guilty. "JACE GET YOUR LAZY ASS DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT OR I WILL RIP YOUR BALLS OUT. (silence) WHY THE HELL DID YOU DYE CLARY'S HAIR GREEN? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? DO YOU MAKE IT YOUR MISSION TO RUIN PEOPLE'S LIVES? IS THE DYE PERMANENT, BECAUSE IF IT IS (silence again) YEAH IT BETTER BE YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP, WHERE ARE YOU GOING? DO. NOT. LAUGH. MOM IS HEARING ABOUT THIS! Hi Clary, you still there?"

Despite the situation, I could help but laugh. "Yeah."

"So the dye isn't permanent, it'll come off after about seven washes-"

"SEVEN? I have to go to SCHOOL WITH GREEN HAIR?! Izzy, help me! What should I do? Should I dye it red?"

"God, no! You don't want your hair falling out, do you?!"

"Then what?!" I pleaded.

I heard Isabelle sigh, "Just live with the damn green hair for a week or two."

"Izzy, I have Sydney in three weeks! I can't go to Sydney with semi green hair! Jace is sooooo dead," I fumed. I would make that boy's life miserable.

"What is up with you two? Do you guys like each other or…"

"Isabelle, are you seriously freaking suggesting that we like each other?! If Jace liked me, HE WOULDN'T DYE MY HAIR GREEN," I exploded into the phone.

"Then why are you two at each other's throats?!"

"He deliberately does things to piss me off. Am I supposed to stand there and take it like an angel?! No! So all the stuff I dumped on his head – he deserves every bit of it."

"Cla- that's true, but couldn't you have skipped the eggs, I mean you started this prank war and who knows how this will turn out. Jace is the god of trouble- making and you do NOT want to get into a pranking competition with him. He. Is. The. Best. You better back out," warned Isabelle.

"Well, I tried calling a truce, but that jackass brother of yours waved it away like a fly," I grumbled.

"You know, on second thought, maybe I'm completely wrong, maybe Jace isn't secretly crushing on you and is genuinely happy in seeing you flipped off," she contemplated.

"No shit, Sherlock," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some research to do of how NOT to look like the wicked witch, buh-bye." I clicked off the phone, suddenly mad at everyone in the world.

I lazily reached for my laptop, knowing I was in for a long night.

Jace P.O.V.

I was sitting on my bed examining the set of earphones Isabelle had snapped in half. I groaned and flung them off my bed since they were now worth the same thing as the dust on the floor.

"IZZY YOU OWE ME A PAIR OF EARPHONES!" I called from my room, hoping she wasn't too immersed in her daily intake of ABC family dramas.

"NO I DON'T, HAIR DESTROYER!" she screamed back.

It was just a stupid dye that would come out after like three washes. Yeah, I had lied to Isabelle. Sue me. I was confused about Clary, no doubt about that and it was irritating me. It was affecting my swimming and school, which was bad. I guess playing stupid pranks on her helped me figure it out.

I didn't have a crush on her. That's clear. I like her attitude, it's cute, but she infuriates me at the same time. The only reason I devote my time to her is because she is different. After our huge fight, she didn't spend her time crying(well, she did cry…a lot), or watching sappy teen romances with a tub of chocolate ice cream. Instead, she thought of ways to make my life hell.

So I decided, she is a girl, who hates me, and it is my goal to make sure I piss her off more than she will piss me off. Simple. No feelings included. I smiled, maybe being an asshole isn't as bad as everyone perceives it to be. Maybe, I like it.

It was time to kick back, relax and curiously ponder the horrors that were lying in store for me the following morning at school.

Clary P.O.V.

I groaned, slamming my laptop shut. Didn't anyone in this world ever have a bad hair day?! NO, I AM NOT GOING TO BUY GARNEIR SHAMPOO WHICH KEEPS HAIR STRAIGHT FOR SEVEN DAYS! That was it, it was time for professional consultation.

Ten minutes later I pulled into the parking lot in front of a dreadfully bright sign in neon pink and green. As much as I hated the décor, the people were great. I pushed the door, grinning inwardly at the sound of the little chime fixed on the top.

Scanning the small salon, I silently thanked the gods seeing the man I wanted to see standing there. He grinned at me and ushered me into one of the comfy black swivel chairs. He turned me around so that I was facing him and said, "I know I told you to take bold risks, but this isn't bold, it's…disastrous."

"I know, and I need your help. Some idiot at school thought it would be funny to put hair dye in my swim cap. Work your magic, Mags."

Magnus smiled at me again, "And I shall, fear not, young maiden. I have something that will take it right out."

"Maggie, you are a life saver," I said honestly.

"I know," and half an hour later, I was never more happier to look like me. I thanked Magnus and slumped into one of the neon green couches.

"So who is this idiot?" Magnus asked, throwing my wet towel into a large bin.

"This guy at school-"

Magnus swept into the chair in front of me. "Spill."

"Okay, so there was this guy I met at the beginning of the summer and he was really hot (Magnus grinned), like super super hot (his grin widened) and we became friends because I was friends with his sister and it turned out that we had both lost our parents so we had some kind of connection, you know? (Magnus awwwed) we had our arguments, but we still became close and we're both captains of the team so we spent more time together and then I realized that he was the kid I used to play with when we were five (he awwwed again) and it was great and we ditched detention together (Magnus ooohed) and it was all fun until this jerk came and spread our secrets around the school and made the guy think that I spread them and so we had this huge fight and he became this cold blooded asshole who ended up telling me that our whole friendship was fake (he gasped) and then we started this prank war and thus the green hair." I ended my ramble and took in a breath of air.

"Did you sleep with him?"

"What? NO! Magnus! We didn't even kiss! God!" I yelled in disgust. I couldn't even imagine…ugh, nevermind.

"As long as you're not preggie with his baby, this is manageable. So, do you still like him? I want the truth, if he still makes your stomach do a teensy little backflip, you still want him," Magnus looked me straight in the eye.

"Alright," I relented, "Maybe a teensy crush, but I still hate him. I mean it's hard not to like him a little, he's so cocky, but it can be so attractive, not to mention he looks like a god."

Magnus jumped up, "I knew it!"

"Mags, sit down. Now I need something good to get back at him…"

"You guys remind me of the couple from The Bounty Hunter, you know the movie where the keep handcuffing each other to stuff."

"Oh yeah," I said, recalling the movie.

"Yeah, anyway-"

"WAIT, SAY NO MORE! I have some shopping to do, where can you get a pair of handcuffs, like the non police kind?" I inquired.

"I dunno, iParty maybe?" said Magnus, still recovering from my sudden outburst.

"Yes, iParty. Well, I gotta run, but I will fill you in on the details, thanks a million Mag, bye!" I yelled, swinging out the door. Jace, you will wish you had never been born.

You know, if I still had the green hair, it would be hard to separate me from a real witch. Jace was in my stew tonight.


	23. Love Police

**Go ahead, hate me. I know it's been forever since I updated, but I think your anger might slightly dissolve after this chapter. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, so tell me what you think. You know, school just started, I'm getting into the swing of things. SO, I decided that updates will be every, or every other Sunday. So tune in on Sundays! I'm really really sorry I took forever to update, but forgive me! So uh, review if you wish Quidditch was real. Oh and the Potter thing, yeah I get that a lot from teachers too. They put on an accent and are like, "Potter…" and I'm like, "Snape…" haha no jk jk. So yeah I get a lot of harry potter jokes but they can be funny and I go along with them so its all good. I am not British, but some of my family members are. I'm American, WOOT WOOT! Sooooooo review! Even if you don't like Quidditch (party pooper)! So REVIEW! ENJOY!**

Love Police

That morning, I had my plan set and all ready to go. I quickly slipped the tiny folded pieces of paper into the two boys' lockers and skipped (well actually speed-walked, but in my mind, skipped) happily to the tree behind the school. Knowing the boys both had a free block at this time, I had no worries that they would be doing something else.

Somehow, their logic worked something like this: if class is in session, ditch it. If we have no class, sit in the hall doing nothing. So my plan was pretty much fool proof, that is if they don't figure out what I was doing. You see, I had several things working to my advantage. First of all, deeply buried underneath all the layers of arrogance and inflated head issues, both boys could not resist the opportunity of seeing what I was up to after convincing them that I hated their guts with a burning passion.

Two, they both probably want to find some excuse to get me in trouble after how much I have ruined (attempted to ruin) their lives. And third, they both still have a small crush on me. My body was re-boosted with confidence knowing that this was undeniably the most horrible thing I could do to them both. It was like hitting two birds with one stone. Oh how clever I am.

After waiting several minutes, I noticed a blonde head walking towards me; a permanent smirk on his face. I exhaled, and told my seducing skills to work their magic.

"Jace," I greeted.

"Red or should I say, green," he greeted in the same fashion. I ignored this remark, knowing I could gloat about it later and that my hair wasn't green anymore, thanks to Magnus's amazingness.

I feigned nervousness and began to toy with my fingers. Toying with my hair would be a big giveaway that I was faking it. I closed my eyes and opened them again before saying, "I need to talk to you about something," I said softly.

"Well obviously, shoot."

"First of all, why did you come?"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, I thought you hated me," I said, making my eyes a little bigger and more innocent.

"I do," he said simply and my anger flared up. Jerk.

"Why?"

"Because you ratted me out to the crab and then you made a big drama scene and you made my life a lot more soap opera than it needed to be and then oh yeah, you took a liking to dumping things on my head. And you're annoying."

"I'm sorry," I said quietly and I know Jace was shocked. Sucker.

"Come again?" he said, utter surprise in his voice.

"Jace," I sighed, taking his hand, "I'm sick of playing this game. It's just that having no one at home, I don't even know if I can call it home, and then having to deal with all this hatred at school is overwhelming and not to mention Sydney stress."

Even though this was all an act, I couldn't help but like the feel of his hand in mine. I was surprised to feel him hold my hand a fraction tighter. Oh crap, I better be able to follow through and not fall for him.

"Are you sick? You sound mental saying this to me," Jace retorted and suddenly I was back on track. I stuttered and whimpered and talked softly so he wouldn't notice me pulling out the pair of handcuffs with my other hand. As quietly as I could, I clipped on one of the cuffs onto his wrist, without letting the cool metal touch his skin.

At that same moment, I saw Sebastian approaching through the corner of my eye. It's go time.

"Come with me!" I said quickly to Jace and pulled him with me, running straight toward Sebastian.

"Clary, what-"

"Did you bring it?" I asked seductively. Sebastian smiled evilly, his eyes dark with lust. I don't know why, but having Jace right behind me didn't seem to faze him. As fast as I could, I opened the other cuff and slammed it close on Sebastian's wrist as he moved his hand to give the little package to me.

The idiot actually thought we were going to do it? Like he would use protection. He immediately dropped the small rubber pack onto the ground and glared at me. I stepped back to admire my handiwork. Jace and Sebastian were successfully handcuffed to each other.

"WHAT THE FU-"

"Clary, give the key to me right now, I swear-"

"BITCH, WHAT THE FU-"

"CLARY, KEY. NOW," Jace thundered.

"Boys, boys. You know that is not going to happen," I said dangling the key in front of them. In their haste, they both made for the key, ultimately tangling and tripping over each other. I suppressed a laugh, knowing that the school would do that for me.

"At the end of the day, the key will be on top of that tree," I said, pointing to the tall oak some feet back. It was a pretty tall tree, I had no idea how they were going to climb it. "Also, I have disposed of all materials that could be used to cut the cuffs apart. If I am notified by one of my many spies, that you have been attempted to separate from the cuffs by forceful means, I will delay putting the key on the tree by one hour. You attempt again, two hours and such. If teachers ask you about this…predicament, you are to say that it has been a punishment by your mother for eating all the cookies in the cookie jar. Oh, and I also have your phones. Are these terms understood?"

They both glared back at me. I took that as a yes.

"Have a good day, boys," I said smartly. I turned my back on them and walked back to the school. Score.

And that my friends, was the day my popularity sky-rocketed.

"Clary!" Isabelle squealed. "GENIUS! How, what, freaking GENIUS! I am now transferring the throne to your name. Oh my god, Jace already has a black eye, Sebastian has a bust lip, a cut on his cheek and two black eyes. They keep slamming each other into the lockers, it's freaking awesome!"

I laughed and flipped my hair in acknowledgment. "Yeah…I know."

"Jace is going to hate you more than ever though. Like actually hate you, not pretend to hate you."

I did a double-take. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah Jace wasn't buddy buddy with you, but he liked that. He like messing with you because you're a tough girl, he thinks it cute. You totally pissed him off sometimes, but he always had a soft spot for you. I don't know now though." She laughed. "Well, have a great vengeful day!" she said cheerily before running off in her heels to God knows where.

Soft spot? I came to the conclusion that Izzy was telling stupid lies just so Jace and I would be friends again. I almost laughed at the thought. But as I did I felt a strange tug in my stomach. It felt like I was trying way too hard to convince myself that I hated Jace. Maybe I don't hate him. Maybe I never hated him. Maybe I just needed an excuse to stay away from the fact that we were real to each other, had arguments, understood each other.

I ran away from him. I was scared of feeling comfort. I was scared of…something real.

I turned my head in confusion. Why was this hitting me now? All this time, I was pushing myself away when he still treated me like a person and now I overstepped the line, pretending like I wanted to become friends and then handcuffing him to his arch enemy. Well, actually his ex arch enemy. I think I took Sebastian's spot.

I took a deep breath and tried to forget Jace for a minute. I sometimes wish he would just disappear and all my life's problems would be solved. Ok, maybe I didn't like him. Maybe, maybe, maybe. I was sick of the maybe's. But I mean, if I really connected, or felt real with Jace, I wouldn't want him to leave right? But I do…ARGH!

I took another breath and tried even harder to forget him. I stared at the hallway in front of me and instead turned my attention to noticing different things about people. Having finally cleared my head, I turned on my heel and proceeded to walk towards Math.

And what else to expect than a tub of Gatorade drenching me from head to toe. Jace holding one handle, Sebastian holding the other. "Working together now, are we?" I said, the taste of orange Gatorade on my lips.

"Oops, this isn't the quarterback. They both have-," said Jace, the skin around his left eye purple.

"-the same burly build and the facial hair," snickered Sebastian, who winced immediately as his lip began to bleed afresh.

What the hell? "And finishing each other's sentences. Well, Fred and George, if you don't mind, I'm going to go change." I had to admit, I was pretty good at keeping my calm.

I gritted my teeth as my shoes squished and squeaked on the way to the girls' locker room. Jace and Sebastian's laughs echoed in the hall. I never thought I'd live to see the day when blondie and crab boy worked together to dunk Gatorade on me, when merely months ago, Jace was beating the shit out of him for thinking I spent a night with Sebastian.

I looked up with an exasperated expression and pushed open the locker room door. I blankly opened my gym locker and almost didn't notice when my calendar fell out. I picked it up and stuck it back on the wall. I felt my stomach sink when I noticed that Scarlen was only two weeks away. I really didn't need to worry THAT much. I had been training for one and a half years. Just these past three weeks had been hectic. But, I still had two weeks. Some easy conditioning would do the trick. No point of overworking myself now.

Quickly glancing at my schedule, I decided that math could wait and I changed into my swimsuit. I didn't care if I got a detention, I could just go to the pool then saying I had a punishment for extra laps or whatever.

I eased myself into the pool feeling instantly relieved of the sticky Gatorade that had begun to dry on my skin. My life was a mess. What had I done? Things were just fine and then bam! Sebastian had to get in the way. But that wasn't all, it was my fault. I pushed Jace away more than I needed too and look where I was now.

I pushed off from the wall and began doing laps. By the time I was exhausted, three hours had gone by. SHIT! I missed three classes?! Scrambling out of the water, I hastily peeled off my wet suit, dried off and wrestled into my clothes. Still grabbing the rest of my possessions, I bolted out the door and ran to my locker.

I finally regained my bearings and calmly walked to History when I heard two very male voices shouting at the end of the corridor. "-dare touch her," Jace was saying. His mouth was pressed in a firm line, his eyes furious.

"Yeah, still in love with Ugly Betty? You know, you're pretty convincing with your whole I hate you act. Too bad she isn't acting. God, she is just too good, I've never moaned that much," said Sebastian with a sinister smile.

That bastard. Jace had his eyes shut as if he were trying to block the words from reaching his ears. I didn't care if I was eavesdropping. I went around the corner, revealing myself and slapped Sebastian right in the face leaving a red handprint on his cheek. Caught by surprise, he made a move towards me, but Jace caught his other wrist with his free hand, holding the crab back.

"Clary," he said as softly as he could muster, "tell me it isn't true." I gaped at him in shock.

"It-it isn't," I stammered, "but why do you…Jace, I handcuffed…are you…why," I was at a loss for words, and I knew right then and there that this was the time to let it all out. I shoved my hand in my pocket and fished out the tiny silver key. I clumsily jammed it into the handcuffs and opened them with a click.

Jace sighed in relief and I felt a pang of guilt looking at the red lines where the cuffs had been. Without thinking, I snapped the cuff back onto Sebastian and cuffed the other end to the nearest sturdy thing. Before he could register what happened, he was strapped to the science cart. Have fun lugging that around.

I grabbed Jace's wrist and weaseled through the halls, finally opening the door to the storage closet and stopping there. It was really dark and I fumbled to look for a switch, my heart thudding, a million emotions running through me. Suddenly, the room flooded with light and I looked up to see Jace smirking next to the switch.

"Jace what was that?" I asked out of breath.

"I turned..on the..switch?" he asked, a confused look on his face.

"No, that!" I said, gesturing out the door.

"Oh um, nothing. You know I hate the guy, now can I go please?" he made to open the door but I blocked him. He stepped back, his foot landing on a broom leaning against the wall. The broom handle fell hitting his forehead and opening a new cut. It started to bleed and I felt worse. In an instant all my jumbled feelings, Sydney stress, loneliness came pouring out and tears formed in my eyes. I didn't care.

"Jace, I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I did all these horrible things to you and all you did was temporarily dye my hair green! And he I was thinking you were the worse one-"

"Clary, what are you saying?" a hint of hope lined his voice. Hope of what, I didn't know.

Tears were now spilling out of my eyes, "I don't know! Jace do you hate me?!"

He hesitated for a second, "No, I don't hate you. It's just that this morning, when you were talking to me, for a second, I thought…" he shrugged. "Nevermind, Clary, what are we?"

I looked down, trying to collect some order of words. They were all so mixed in my mind and terribly difficult to get out. This was the chance. Jace was being tolerable, I had to say it now.

"I don't know. It just seems like everytime I screw up or do something, you care about me more, do you? I mean, you beat up Sebastian just for thinking that I, you know, when I didn't and I thought maybe and then I didn't tell him about your sister-"

"You didn't?"

"No, Jace I would never do that to you!" I cried.

"Why?" he was staring at me now.

My response was instant, "Because I cared abou-" I stopped dead in my tracks. This was dangerous territory. Jace looked nervous, running a hand through his hair. It was almost as if he was holding himself back from doing something he had wanted to do forever. But I plowed on, "All I need to know is what you think of me. Do you hate me? Do you like me? Do you hate-like me? Do you ca-"

I was cut off by the inability to speak. His lips were against mine and everything felt right. I responded, bundling my fists in his shirt and he deepened the kiss. His hand caressed my cheek and he pushed me against the door, kissing me hungrily. His lips were warm, soft and wet, kissing me with passion.

"Jace," I began when we briefly paused to take a breath.

"Shut, up," he mumbled, crushing his lips onto mine again. I decided to put the thought on hold and kissed him back, knowing this is exactly what I wanted. I wrapped my arms around his neck and his hands slipped around my waist, hoisting me up onto the spare desk I didn't even know was there. Jace's hands trailed slightly under my shirt, his fingertips sending shocks up my body. His lips left mine, peppering hot kisses down my jaw and on my neck, his tongue flicking my earlobe.

"Jace," I moaned and his lips returned to mine. His tongue traced my bottom lip and I opened my mouth, letting him enter. My mind raced as his tongue did devastating things making me shudder. My head screaming in protest, I reluctantly pulled away, breathing hard. He rested his forehead against mine, occasionally sneaking in a kiss or two.

"Jace," I began for the third time, panting.

"Hmm?" he was now placing chaste kisses on my neck and collarbone.

"What…?" I was utterly confused. He stopped kissing my neck and looked at me.

"Clary, I've always cared about you, even when I didn't know it. There was a point when I thought I hated you, but it didn't feel right. You kept popping into my mind, scaring me and confusing me up to a point where I was mad, really confused. You, you could say, had me whipped, in a sense. No girl has ever in my whole life made me feel that way before, and here you were, messing up my life. But now, it's official. I am," he paused as if the words were going to cause the end of the world, "in love with you."

I looked up at him, a smile playing at my lips. "Really?" I breathed. It was stupid, but hey, I was a stupid girl in love.

"Really," smiled, showing off his dimples as he leaned in. The bell rang, making us both jump, but he ignored it, beginning to kiss me in a way I was pretty sure I could get use to.

**So there you go. After thinking and thinking about it, I decided it was about time. Waddya think? Let me know!**


	24. Game On Part 2

**Hey guys! Okay, so just to let you know…the next chapters are going to be fun. It's time to ditch the drama! WOOHOO! Its gonna be like the flirting and stuff from the earliest chappies. So tell me what you think! Love you all!**

**~Amy**

Game On: Part 2

"You ready to go?" Alec's blue eyes were shining at me.

"Yeah. Really thanks Alec for coming with me," I told him, the sarcasm gone from my voice as heaved the last bag into the trunk. The nerves were starting to kick in. I going to be a wreck by the time it actually rolled around, but then again nerves always helped me do better.

"My brother, is the best freaking swimmer in the United States and I'm not gonna come down and see him kick ass? Bullshit," he smiled. Seeing my state he added, "Don't worry, man, you're gonna do fine. You got this look before you swam every time since you were seven, and you did awesome every time too, so don't sweat it.

I nodded and sat in the passenger's seat. Alec didn't press me anymore; he knew how I got before meets. Of course, Isabelle and Max were coming on the day of the competition. I didn't want him to miss any more school than he already was missing. My mind drifted like it had for the past two weeks.

Damn, if I hadn't said what I did that day, I would be a lot less nervous right now. It killed me to think what she must be going through.

I knew it was a failed attempt even before I called her but I still gave it a try. Second ring, third ring, fourth ring, fifth ring, sixth ring, seventh ring, eighth ring. I was just about to hang up when her voice came through to the other line.

"Hello?" her voice was unreadable.

"Clare," I breathed.

"Jace," she said evenly.

"I just wanted to see how you were holding up."

"Uh, yeah I'm good. Nerves. I'm actually on my way to the airport right now."

"Yeah, me too."

"Cool."

There was a long pause before I gathered every ounce of courage I had to spit it out. "Clary, I want you to know that-" I stopped, freezing.

"Woah, what happened to Jace Wayland the don't-mess-with-me-I'm-cooler-than-you guy?"

I cringed. I was not hoping for this. "Clary-"

"Look Jace, forget it. When I kick some major ass in Sydney, you'll see what you're missing."

And with that she hung up on me. I let go of my breath.

"I deserved that."

"Girl trouble?" Alec asked, smirking.

"Has anyone told you it's rude to eavesdrop?" I sneered.

"Jace, I'm sitting right next to you, its hard NOT to eavesdrop. So who is she?"

I decided to tell since he was my brother after all. "Clary, remember, that girl with the red hair?"

"Ohhh yeah, so what happened?"

I groaned, "Long story." Alec didn't say anything and waited for me to begin.

"Okay, well long story short, we became friends, had this huge fight, starting hating each other, played major pranks on each other, I kissed her, I said some really stupid things and now she hates me. The End."

"Well," Alec began as if trying to wrap his head around the idea, "just apologize."

"No Alec, you don't understand. This is Clary we're talking about, not Snow White."

"What did you say?"

Oh god. "I said that I made a mistake kissing her and my swimming was more important than her."

Alec was silent. "Oh man," he chuckled, "That's pretty hard to get out of. Why'd you say that?"

"I don't know! I was freaked. I mean on one hand I really like her and on the other hand I really want to focus on swimming."

"Okay, one thing. She's a swimmer too so if you hadn't said that shit and just shared the nerves with her, you wouldn't be in this situation. Two, just win a bunch of gold medals, show off in front of some French swimmer and make her jealous. She obviously has feelings for you if she's mad at you for breaking her heart."

Here was Alec Lightwood giving me not too bad relationship advice. "Jealousy. That might just work. Thanks man."

Clary P.O.V.

The second time he was an absolute jerk it hurt more. He really sounded sincere on the phone but no one screws up twice with the same girl! I hated myself because I missed him. Missed our fights and pranks. I don't know, life felt empty without him and I hated myself for it.

Yeah, I was really upset. I mean he kissed for God's sake and it was pretty heated. I was crushed whan those words escaped his mouth, but then I was like wait, why am I crying over him? He's obviously a big baby who kind of freaks out during competition time. But I also missed Jace, no matter how much of a baby he was. I guess we were back to our flirting/hating game again. Whoopee.

ITS JUST SO CONFUSING! The way he kissed me was…ugh! Stop it Clary, stop it. There will be other guys.

You are not the crying type. You don't cry over boys, especially stupid ones like him.

Well, he'll just have to see what he's missing when I'm flashing my medal in some hot British swimmer's face.

I pulled into the airport parking lot and registered my car in for 21 days. The whole ride to the airport was humdrum but I could spot some of my Junior USA Team members leaning against their luggage and waiting for the rest of the group.

"CLLARRYY!" they yelled as they saw me approaching. I couldn't help but smile. This was going to be such as good time.

"HEYY!" I responded. We enveloped into a group hug and broke out into conversations of how nervous we were.

"Guys, guys, guys, shut up, shut up," Nicole said. "Non-Scarlen girls, I present to you, the best of the Scarlen boys."

And right on cue, a group of five boys sauntered in through the sliding doors of the airport all wearing blue jackets with the Scarlen logo on it. The Junior USA Team and Scarlen were combined to represent the USA. I had a good feeling about this.

And of course, Jace being captain, strolled in with a smirk plastering on his face in the middle of the group. A collective gasp went through the group of girls behind me.

"I have never seen-"

"Oh, my god."

"Damn…"

"Who is _that_?"

I was feeling intense déjà vu from the first co-ed practice of the year. He got the same reaction everywhere he went! Damn his beautifulness. He was such a jerk! Freaking, he had no right to walk in like that after what he did to me! No, I would not be part of his game. Nope. Not this girl.

"Hello girls," the Scarlen Boy's Team coach started and all the girls snapped out of drooling over Jace. "This is the Scarlen and Junior Team USA Boys Swim Team. You will be working out together for two weeks and then join forces for the final competition in week three. And _please_, put a little limit on the flirting." Everyone laughed. He knew exactly what went down at these competitions. Too much flirting.

I glared at him stonily. He didn't smirk or smile, he looked…guilty? Jace Wayland looked guilty!

"Alright guys, let's go!" Coach waved his hand towards security check, the boarding passes in his hand. The coaches gathered at the front of the group and I hung back a little. I loved to people watch at the airport. And as expected all girls' eyes were on Jace.

He stayed at the front of the group. I scolded myself for looking at him every two seconds. REMEMBER WHAT HE SAID TO YOU?!

I peered through the windows of mini restaurants and things in the airport and watched people pick at their salads and sip out of their wine glasses.

"Clary." I looked up to see that Jace wasn't at the front of the group anymore but right beside me.

"What?" I snapped.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean those things at all. I promise! I swear to…Max!" he looked at me with pleading eyes that I had never seen before. "I don't what got into me, it was stupid and rash-"

"Yeah, like kissing me was stupid and rash?"

"No! That was wrong, that was all wrong, I miss you! I don't regret kissing you one bit, Clary, I really screwed up and I'm sorry. I don't want to screw up anymore than I have already and all I'm asking for is one more chance."

I stopped walking. "Fine." Relief flooded his face. "But," he tensed again, "you're gonna have to earn it, buddy, and believe me, its not going to be easy."

And with that I jogged up to the rest of the girls. He caught up to me and grinned, his breath hot in my ear. "Like always, game on."


	25. Bitch Please I'm Fabulous

**Herrro! Okay, so I know I haven't updated in FOREVER! I feel bad, I really do, but here's the new chappie so tell me what you guys think! It's not as long as all the others, yes, but there will be longer chapters now. I mean, this was kind of a transition into competition mode and the real deal will start after this chapter. Jace is still playing his little game, and lets see how our little Clare-bear reacts, hmm? **

**Anyway, I enjoyed writing this chapter (tee hee) cuz there's a little bit of heat. (fans face with hand) XD**

**ANYWAY, you guys are probably like shut the hell up and let us read the goddamn thing already, so here it is! The new chapter! REVIEW my little darlings!**

Bitch Please, I'm Fabulous

My body screamed in protest as I lazily lifted my ass out of bed. It was officially Hell Week.

Of course, it was called Hell Week for a reason. The coached whipped us up into the best shape of our lives. It killed but it was totally worth the pain when you saw your name at number one in the finals. It was scary, nerve-wracking and stressful, but also fun at the same time when you were surrounded by the girls you had been swimming with for five years.

I looked at my schedule. Ick. Today was drylands day. We had to run like forty billion miles and do ten million push-ups and sit-ups. Yay.

Quickly changing into my jog clothes and taking a swig of orange juice, I bolted out the door, sloppily pulling my hair into a pony tail. I bounded down the beautiful staircase in the Hilton Hotel. Yes, that was where we were staying. Hilton Hotel. Hell yeah.

One of the best parts about these meets was the hotels and luxury. Too bad I wasn't on vacation. This was probably the complete opposite. I joined the giant mob of swimmers in the main lobby and waited around for instructions. "Hey Fray," I looked sideways to see a girl with chocolate brown and eyes and beautiful bronze skin.

"Yo Angelo," I replied smiling.

"You still remember that?"

" 'Course. Nina Angelo isn't easy to forget."

"Well," she sighed dramatically, flipping her hair. "That _is_ true."

"Drama queen," I muttered and she laughed.

"Man, I haven't seen you in forever. You should quit the Scarlen team and make full commitment to Team U-S-A!" she pumped her first in the air like an over-enthusiastic cheerleader and mimicked a dumb blonde batting her eyelashes and I laughed. "But I get it."

"Get what?" I asked, confused.

"Who would quit the Scarlen team with the boys looking hotter than freaking Abercrombie models? It's kind of unreal."

I opened my mouth to protest when she cut me off. "And PLEASE don't say that 'they're okay' because you know that is soooo not true. They're gorgeous. Especially that blonde one."

She fanned her face with her hand. Here we go again. "I mean, that is un chico muy caliente. Alguien ayudame por favor!" **(It means, That is a very hot boy. Someone help me please!) **"Is he single?"

And just like that, with those three simple words, blaring alarms rose up all around me and my defensive/jealous mode was activated. "No," I said quickly. "He has a girlfriend."

"That's too bad. Whoever she is, she is a very lucky girl."

"You have no idea."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, grinning. "He is ridiculously hot." And out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jace smirk. He was listening to our conversation!

"Well," I said a little loudly, "He's an ass." Just like that, his smile dropped. Then, Jace Wayland had the wonderful idea to saunter up to us and begin a conversation. Nina nearly passed out.

"Hello girls," he drawled.

"What do you want, Jace?" I asked as sweetly as possible.

"Is it a crime to talk to two very pretty girls?" He winked at Nina, and I'm sure a part of her just died.

"Coach said something about keeping a limit to the flirting Jace, I'm sure you heard him."

"What makes you think that I'm flirting? Or are you hoping…?" He grinned, showing off his dimples. Nina was melting, but apparently she could tell that Jace was making a move on me.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat, interrupting. " , flirting is not an option, when you have a girlfriend." No no no no no no, Nina you DIDN'T. SHIT! Shit shit shit.

"Girlfriend?" Jace asked slyly, raising an eyebrow. "And who gave you that information?"

"No one," Nina said quickly, and I wished so bad that I could disappear right then and there.

"ALLRIGHT," Coach's booming voice sounded through the empty lobby. Nina rushed forward to join the group, but I just cringed and stayed back, hoping Jace would leave.

But NO. He had to come around my and seductively whisper in my ear, "Jealously, might I add Ms. Fray is very attractive on you."

I gave him my best death glare, but he just gave me his signature smirk and joined the team in the front. I mentally slapped myself. I was supposed to make this hard for him, not smolder every time he flashed me his smile!

Clary, control your hormones. He is just, a boy. A hot, delicious, gorgeous boy BUT still, just, a boy.

"Captains!" Coach called and I fell out of my thoughts. Jace, Nina, Blake and I all stepped to the front of the group. I felt kind of proud standing there with so much authority and high level of skill, it was hard to contain my smile.

Jace brushed my shoulder as he joined me, sending a wink in my direction. I responded with a prompt roll of the eyes.

"We will begin with a couple of stretches led by the captains. We will then be going on a two mile run. This run will be more of a jog, go easy on yourself, don't push. We will get into the hardcore stuff later in the day. Captains will lead. I want you all back in twenty minutes. Proceed."

We ushered the conjoined teams into a large circle around us and held a quick stretching session. Since everyone was just standing around after, I decided to take control. "Alright, we're gonna start the two miles now. Keep a steady, healthy pace."

I led the group out of the hotel to the nearby woods. "Follow the worn trail and the posts with the white paint. If you get lost, just blow you're whistle and-" Before I could finish my sentence, Jace took off into the woods. Nuh-uh, he was so not getting a head start. I was a pretty strong runner.

"Go!" I bellowed and a herd of national swimmers embarked on the strenuous TWO mile journey into Australian woods. That was so intense.

About two minutes into the jog, I was pretty far ahead of everyone else, but there was still no sign of Jace. I strained my legs to go a little faster and then I caught sight of him. His muscles rippled under his shirt with every stride and there was not one part of him that wasn't toned. His torso was lean and his strong legs filled each step with power and speed.

But I was faster.

Making a show if it, I pounded forward, purposely shoving my shoulder into his. "Oops," I called behind me as I kept running.

He wore a look of complete surprise that was soon replaced by amusement. I didn't stay to chat, because I knew he was going to catch up. I was completely out of breath halfway through the second mile. Jace hadn't shown up. Maybe he decided to accept defeat for once.

I slowed my pace, dropping to a slow jog. The woods around me were eerily silent and the only sound I could hear was the pounding of my feet against the dirt path. Then out of nowhere something grabbed me and pinned me against a tree.

I shrieked in panic but the creature covered my mouth with its very human like…hand.

As soon as my eyes had calmed from wide to normal, he slowly removed his hand from my mouth. "Jace, what the flipping FU-" and his hand covered my mouth again.

He put a finger to his lips and then removed his hand. His face crept closer to mine until his lips were right next to my ear. "We're even," he whispered, and I could feel my body shuddering. His fingers brushed the skin under my tank top and he made no effort to put distance between us.

Dear god, help me! Jace Wayland was trying to seduce me! The sad part was that it was working. We hadn't been this close since our very heated kiss in the closet at school.

His lips grazed past my ear, slowly placing kisses on my neck down to my collarbone. No, no, no, no, no, you can't do this Clary, you can't let him win! I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to regain some sense, which was REALLY REALLY hard considering my position.

"Jace," I breathed, "we can't-" I swallowed, almost panting, "do this…" But I sounded unsure of myself.

His lips left my skin for a second and his golden eyes peered curiously into mine. I took this second to look at him. My god he was beautiful. His hair was shorter, but still set in that rugged handsome way. His skin was naturally tan, without a single blemish, flawless. His high cheekbones were beautifully shaped – a sculptor's dream. And I just got lost in his eyes. Before I knew it, his lips were on my skin again, this time along my jaw line.

I wanted to kiss him soooo bad. His hot mouth slightly bit the patch of skin connecting my neck to my shoulder and I gasped, running my fingers through his hair. He would be the death of me. "Jace," I breathed again, but I was cut off by the sound of a whistle.

Some goddamn loser was lost. And just like that I felt the heat of Jace's body leave me to watch his disappearing figure sprint towards the sound of the whistle. I had no choice to follow.

While catching up to him, I felt like a stupid love-struck girl. Pull. Yourself. Together. He was getting under my skin every time. As much as I loved it, I hate it, for being so weak. I wasn't any different than the swooning girls at school.

We followed the whistle sound until we found another girl from the team, Hannah, on the ground, her eyes wet. Jace jogged up to her. I guess his heroism was kicking in again. "Hey," he said softly, as if she were a fragile doll. I felt a pang of jealousy as I remembered when he used that caring tone with me.

"You okay?"

"Oh, um…I fell and um, my ankle. It really, really hurts," she was holding back from letting all her tears flow.

"It alright, I'm gonna get you back to the hotel, okay?" Jace said to her.

She looked up to meet his gaze and her eyes widened just a bit as if realizing oh-my-god-its-the-really-hot-blonde-guy-and-I'm-lying-on-the-ground-and-crying-like-an-idiot. But nonetheless she realized he was going to carry her half a mile in his arms and agreed.

I was overacting. Really. I was acting like an over-obsessed girlfriend who creepily controlled her boyfriend, which made even less sense because he wasn't even my boyfriend. I just stepped back and let Jace do his hero thing. I jogged back to where the rest of the group was and completed the two miles.

It felt like Jace was toying with my feelings again. You know what? This was quite enough. Quite, enough, okay? Next time he tried to woo me in I will be like, talk to the hand, "Bitch please, I'm fabulous."

That's right. Mmhhhm. Come at me bro and I'll show what this girl is made of.


	26. Long Overdue

**Hey guys! I really think the title matches the updating situation, huh? Haha, anyways guys, thank you so much for sticking with the story and believing in me! trust me, I have no intentions of discontinuing the story! Anyways, a little extra long to make up for the long wait. I hope you guys like it! Tell me what you think and review!**

Long Overdue

I felt funny.

Really funny.

I giggled to myself. It was funny that I felt funny. I put one foot in front of the other and almost fell over. Uh-oh. I giggled again. I didn't even know why I was laughing. My head felt fuzzy and I felt like nothing mattered in the world.

"YOLO" I yelled out, giggling to myself. People turned their heads to look at me and I giggled some more.

What time was it? I leaned against the wall of the lobby and tried to make out the blurry hands of the clock. It was either 12:30 or 6:00. "Screw it," I told myself and plopped down on the couch.

As I was lying there I saw a blonde someone walk through the front doors on his phone. After about three seconds, I realized who it was. "Jace!" I yelled gleefully and tripped over to him.

He raised his eyebrows. "Clary what-"

I rested my arm on his shoulder, "Shhh," I said putting a finger to my lips. "Did you know? Your hair feels like golden retriever fur?" I slowly stroked his hair. It was soft. Really soft.

"Clary, you're either really high, or drunk. How the hell did this happen?!" he asked bewildered.

"Shhh, you're giving me a headache. I am NOT drunk, Jacey. I…" I paused to think. My mind was working really slowly. "I don't drink, but….but….I feel funny Jace. Hahahaha, realllly funnyyy. I'm a clown," I slurred, giggling. "Beep," I poked his nose and burst out in laughter again.

"Clary, you have an event in two days. Let's get you sorted out." He made a move to support me on his shoulder but I pulled away to look at him.

"You know what?" I asked, putting my hands on his shoulders. "You're really nice, Jacey. And handsome. You're really nice and handsome. Like a doctor. You should be a doctor. Are you a doctor, Jacey? You should be because I don't feel very good." My knees gave out and I slumped to the floor.

Jace caught me before I fell. He was trying hard not to laugh. I don't know why. Maybe it was because I was a clown."Okay, let's go home and I'll make you some strong black coffee, okay?"

"Coffee. But I'm not coughing, I don't need cough-ee." I giggled again, "I'm so funny." He pulled my arm over his neck and took me to his room. Wow. It was so big. And clean. And big.

"Woah. Is this your house, Jace? You have a nice house, you must be rich. I GOT IT!" I yelled snapping my fingers. "You're a millionaire."

"Yep," he called from the little kitchen. I got up from the couch and went over to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck from behind. He smelled so good. Mmmm.

"You know," I whispered in his ear. "When I first saw you, I thought….'Damn'," I giggled snuggling into his neck. My hands trailed down to the buttons of his shirt and undid one, popping it open. I ran my finger against the smooth skin on his chest, breathing in his scent.

Why was he not my boyfriend?

"Okay," he said loudly. He unwound my hands from his neck and I pouted. "Here," he handed me a steaming mug. "Drink this and you'll feel better, okay?"

"Okay," Jace led me to the couch and sat me down, covering me with a blanket. He turned on the TV.

"Go to sleep if you get tired, okay?" I nodded, my eyes glued to the TV screen. I had no idea what was going on, but laughed anyway.

Jace POV

She was high. Like really high. I quietly exited my room to find some food for her. She NEEDED to be healthy for competition.

In the hall I recognized Nina and a few other girls whispering about something."Hey," I called to them and they immediately looked up, starting to blush. I didn't have time for flirting. "What's going on?" I asked Nina.

"You know Kaelie?" I nodded, gesturing for her to go on, "Well the authorities found drugs in her room. Turns out she's been secretly spiking other's girls drinks or food so she can have all the attention."

"What?!" What the hell?

"Yep," she sighed. "Why, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that Fray is in my room giggling at a documentary about the Civil War."

"Shit, well how are we gonna get them out of her system in time?"

"I don't know, I gave her some black coffee, hopefully they're out in time," I said, running a hand through my hair.

"Good thinking. Take care of her, Jace," she said, eyeing me for a second before going to her room. I guess I deserved that.

I quickly went down to the food room and got a couple of packaged measl to take upstairs with me. It was going to be a long night.

Clary POV

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I groaned, sitting up. My head had a slight throbbing. I rubbed my eyes and took in my surroundings. This was definitely not my room. The TV was on. I squinted at the digital clock. It was 10:30. What the hell happened today? And more importantly, where was I?

I started to get up, then froze, seeing a passed out Jace on the second couch. Then I remembered everything. Shit, I must have said or done something really stupid. In front Jace. No! I ran a hand through my hair and reorganized myself.

I grabbed the empty coffee mug and rinsed it in the sink. Turning off the TV, I took my blanket and gently put it over Jace, setting his alarm early so he didn't miss training. I tied my hair up sloppily and was about to leave-

"Clary?" Jace asked sleepily. I slowly turned around. He groggily turned on the dim lamp. "What time is it?"

"10:30."

"Oh, how're you feeling?" I sat down next to him.

"Fine. Jace?"

"Hm?"

"You have to ignore whatever dumb things I said, okay?" I asked tentatively.

He laughed. "I don't know, you said some stuff worth teasing you about for the rest of your life."

I groaned, mentally slapping myself. "What did I say?"

He grinned. "That's for me to know and you to, dot dot dot." ( Got that from vampire diaries. Gotta love damon!)

I glared at him. "I don't even know how I got so loopy."

"Hey, don't look at me with those judgy little eyes. Kaelie has been the dirty little drug lord here and now she's busted."

"KAELIE?" I yelled, jumping up.

"I literally just said that less than thirty seconds ago," replied Jace and I glared at him again.

"Yeah, thanks, smartass."

"Excuse me, but this smartass was trying to save yours. Good thing I got you in here in time or someone else could have had you kicked out of the competition."

It felt weird, normally talking to him. Or as normal talking can get with a person like Jace. There wasn't any drama, it was just…two friends. Friends. My heart involuntarily clenched at the thought of just being friends. Did I want more than that? I realized I did. I wanted him to be mine so bad. I wanted him to hold my close and whisper loving things in my ear. I wanted the comfort I had never gotten ever since my family died. But he had hurt me too much. No matter how much I wanted these things to come true, I couldn't trust him. I would never know when he would turn back from his word and say it was all a mistake. So for the time being, I had to act neutral.

"So what now?" I asked, dropping my hands from my forehead and slumping back onto the couch.

"What are you suggesting?" asked Jace, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Jace," I groaned, "I'm tired and I have a headache, so please, cut the flirty."

"Alright, alright cranky pants. You're not going back to your room now, so just crash on my bed," he offered.

I looked at him. He was being oddly nice. I decided to take the kindness as long as it would last and accepted. "Okay, and you'll sleep here?" I asked, indicating the couch.

"Hell no," he scoffed. "Maybe in some PG-13 movie version of this, I would have let you sleep in my bed, covered you with a blanket and kissed your forehead, but unfortunately, this is real life, and I want to sleep in a bed."

I looked at him, bewildered. "I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you!"

"Then take the couch," he said, shrugging. His voice hinted the fact that he knew I didn't want to sleep on the couch. I stared at the faded blue color of the cushions. The fabric was fraying and there were unidentifiable stains that I didn't want to further investigate. I thought about going back to my room, but there was no way in hell I was doing that. Who knows what other weird shit could happen next?

There was no other choice. "Fine, BUT, there will be a distinct border between us. If you so much as try to make a move, I will…" I trailed off. There was nothing I could do to physically hurt him. His abs were made of freaking steel and he was way stronger than me. So I left it up to his imagination.

"You'll what? Hurt me? You've already done enough damage, thank you." He stood up and walked towards his room, taking his shirt off in the process. I forgot. Boys sleep with their shirts off. Dammit.

Wait. "What?"

"Nothing."

"What are you talking about?" I pressed.

"Nothing, Clary, just drop it. I'm tired and I just want to sleep." The tease in his eyes was gone and replaced with a dull gloss.

I decided to drop it and let him sleep. It had been a long day for the both of us. I slowly crept into the left side of the bed, while Jace got into the right. Before I knew it, I was out.

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My eyes opened to the brilliant light engulfing the room. Ugh, I really didn't want to get out, I was so warm and co-

SHIT! I cautiously picked my head up from Jace's bare chest, making sure not to move any other part of my body. His arm was thrown lazily around my waist. He looked so peaceful sleeping, golden, like an angel. His hair was tousled and the sound of his quiet breathing put me at ease.

Carefully, I picked up one finger from the hand on my waist and gently put it on his own stomach. I crawled out of bed, tip toeing to the door-

"Clary?" Did I ever tell you how sexy a boy's sleepy voice sounds? Well, it sounds damn sexy. I tried not to think about that.

"Hey," I said, turning around. He just looked so innocent and vulnerable, I couldn't bring myself to leave quite yet. The morning was cold without his body heat and I wrapped my arms around myself, sitting on the foot of the bed.

"You're up early."

I nodded. We sat in silence for a little while until I couldn't hold it in any longer. "Jace?"

"Yeah."

"About what you said yesterday, what did you mean?" I asked tentatively.

"I said a lot of things yesterday. It started with 'Good morning' to coach at like seven am and then-"

"You can't help being a smartass can you? Even in the morning? God, Jace, you're relentless."

"It's called talent."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure. You know what I'm talking about."

He raised his eyebrows and I groaned. He was being difficult.

"The thing about me hurting you?" Even just saying the words was painful.

"Ugh, Clary, I told you to forget about it," he said, running a hand through his messy hair.

I moved closer to him, too stubborn to take no for an answer. "Jace, stop it and tell me." I looked hard into his eyes.

He looked at me for a minute. "Fine. You want me to tell you? Fine. I don't know how to do this, okay? I don't know how to make it up to you! I was stupid and that's all I know. All my life, I've been the cool kid, not giving a damn about anybody. I didn't know how to express my feelings and I didn't need to know because I had none! Then you come along. Yeah at first you were just a little flirt toy, but then you became more and that's when everything went wrong. I didn't know how to act and I was scared. I admit it okay, I was scared. I didn't know what to say, or how to make you happy and I screwed it up. Twice. What kind of moron makes that mistake? You don't know how hard I try to stay within 'friend' distance of you. It's agonizing for me to think that you're mad at me and don't want to be with me and I'm sick of it! I'm sick of your stubbornness and I'm sick of playing this _stupid_ game!"

It took me at least thirty seconds to soak in all he said. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this was a feeling boiling inside of him that just exploded.

"Are you going to say something?" he asked awkwardly and I resisted the urge to laugh. I was wrong, he was right. I knew for sure this time that this was real. And he wasn't going to make anymore mistakes.

Impatient with me, Jace got up from the bed and went to his dresser, looking for a shirt. I watched in admiration as he frustratingly pulled a shirt on and went to the kitchen. I quietly followed.

Irritated, he turned around. "Wha-" Before he could finish, I grabbed him by the front of his shirt brought his face inches from mine. His eyes had a bright shine; they looked startled. The golden irises gazed into my green ones. Then, subtly, his gaze dropped oh so slightly to my lips. His hands slowly moved around my waist and I stood onto my tip toes. I could tell his heart was pounding and so was mine. He hesitated, his lips parting and then closing again. We were breathing the same air. My mouth went dry and I wondered why I was so nervous. His lips looked so soft and tempting…no. I couldn't. Could I?

He brought himself closer, his nose grazing mine. I lifted my gaze from his lips and looked into his eyes. They had changed. They were intense and anxious. His nose brushed past mine on to my cheek, his lips now mere millimeters away from mine. He still hesitated, not bringing them any closer and then I realized. He was waiting.

Without thinking for another second, I filled the narrow gap between us and pressed my lips to his. He immediately responded, releasing the air he had been holding in. He hungrily kissed me, hoisting me onto the kitchen counter and running his hand gently along my thigh. I wrapped arms around his neck and ran my hands through his hair. His mouth was warm and gentle, his lips softer than I imagined. I melted into the kiss, my eyes closed in bliss. It was in that moment that I knew it was right.

I pouted as he pulled away, breathing heavier than about a minute ago. "That was long overdue."

I silently agreed.


	27. WHO ARE WE?

**Hiya! So the new chapter is up! Sorry it took so long, I know I keep making excuses, but I just had to finish the last paragraph. Anyway, after reading this chapter, there's a little note at the bottom to give you a little taste of whats going on. KK! ENJOY AND REVIEW THANKS KAY BYE! **

WHO ARE WE?

It was finally here.

The butterflies in my stomach were frantically flapping around and I was starting to feel queasy. This wasn't any ordinary meet. This could mean the difference between an Olympic career or being a crappily paid swim teacher teaching 4 year-olds who will eventually quit swimming and become bratty, ungrateful little-

"Clary?"

My eyes snapped up to meet golden ones and my body immediately responded with a rush of happiness and a tingling in my toes. Goddamn hormones.

"You okay?" He asked, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah," I breathed, nodding. I was slightly bouncing on the balls of my feet and my hands were wrapped tightly around my blue water bottle.

"Clare, your knuckles are turning white," said Jace, his perfect eyebrows pinched in concern. It kind of made me annoyed, I mean how can a person be _that_ good-looking, be one of the best swimmers in the world AND get straight A's in school?! Freaking how?!

"I'm fine," I snapped. Jace slightly backed away from my behavior and I felt guilty. "Ugh, I'm sorry, Jace, it's just the nerves talking. I'll be fine," I swallowed. I had never been this nervous in my life and I wasn't sure if it was a good sign or a bad omen. And oh my gosh, I was turning bipolar. What was happening?!

Almost like a response to my thoughts, I started bouncing faster on my feet, taking deep breaths. Jace was watching quietly and knowledgably. I almost forgot. He knew exactly how I felt.

I looked at him, my face in an expression that read _I think I'm going to die_. He nodded slightly and put his hand on my back, gently moving his hand up and down in a calming gesture. He hugged me a little closer to his chest.

"Clare, I want you to listen to me," he whispered in my ear. "You are one of the best female swimmers in the USA, hell even the world. You have worked hard and persistently and I know for a fact that your parents and Kyle are extremely proud of you to have reached this far on your own. You will go out there, show what you're made of and you will win, okay?"

I looked at him and his eyes were stern and steady. This wasn't Jace, my boyfriend, talking. It was Jace, my friend, supporter and coach speaking. He really believed in me. I knew what he said what true and I felt a surge of confidence. I'm Clary Fray dammit. And I WILL win.

I let out a deep breath and nodded at him. Just then, they called my name on the speaker.

"Well," I started shakily and then regained my composure, "That's my cue to go." I set my shoulders back, my back straight and braced myself to be greeted by people from all over the world. Get ready, I thought, Clary Fray from the USA is coming.

"I'll be out there, watching you," said Jace, smiling. I smiled back and left the waiting room.

I shook out my nerves the best I could and stepped out to the pool space and the entire USA portion of the crowd stood up and erupted in cheers. I tried to stay as focused and serious as I could, but couldn't help letting out a smile. They had so much faith and pride in me.

That just added to the pressure. I took a few more deep breaths and sat down at the USA bench. "Hey girls," I greeted.

My teammates just nodded and some even mustered some weak smiles. I was in the same boat, you guys. We were all just stretching, quietly sipping out of our water bottles, bouncing up and down and sneaking a few glances at our competitors when Coach jogged over.

"Hey girls!" He started enthusiastically, "Ready to kick some international butt?" There were some half-hearted nervous laughs.

"What is this?" he asked, his eyes going serious. "My girls are nervous? You guys are the bloody best, okay? I want that fierce attitude that I always see at practice. You are strong, you are fast and you are steady. You understand me?"

"Yeah," we muttered, though it was louder than our previous responses.

"What?"

"Yeah," we said a little louder.

"WHAT?"

"YEAH!" we shouted, our faces lighting up with smiles. We were back baby, and we were bringing the fire.

"WHO ARE WE?"

"USA."

"WHO ARE WE?"

"USA."

"WHO ARE WE?"

"USA!" we shouted, pumping our fists. The other countries were staring at us. I was filled with glee when I saw that they looked a little intimidated. That's right, suckers.

"Ha, ha! That's right! Alright, girls, you have worked way too hard for this. Go out there and show these Brits, Frenchies, Kiwi's and whoever else what you're made of!"

We cheered one last time and went to our respective locations. I glanced around and everyone was doing their little good luck rituals. I opened my bag and dug out the little photo of my mom, dad and Kyle. I smiled.

_Hey mom, dad, Kyle. So this is it. My big break. I love you guys and I hope you'll be watching me._

"Clary." I turned around to see Coach standing there.

"Oh hey Coach."

"Big day, huh?"

"Yeah," I laughed.

"Nervous?"

"Very."

"Good. You always do better when you're nervous. Okay, so listen. You'll be going in the third race. You know what event it is right?" He asked, his voice with a hint of concern.

"Yeah, Coach, 200 free."

"Okay, good," he breathed out, relieved.

"Remember start out nice and easy; don't exhaust yourself. The first two fifties should be nice, smooth and steady. Then the next fifty, go faster, but still be steady. Last fifty, pull out the big guns and plow forward okay?"

I nodded.

"You'll do great, Clary. Remember, this is kind of like a trial, so you have to place in the top three. Don't stress about placing first just yet. Just, at least, slide in the third place. Then, you'll go to another trial, then semi, then final."

I nodded again. "Alright, have fun kiddo."

I smiled at Coach and he left to go talk to the other girls. All that was left was to wait.

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Jace POV

Just after Clary left, I felt a buzzing in my pocket. I fished out my phone and looked at the screen. Alec.

"Sup, brother?"

"Jace, I just arrived. I'm sitting right in front of the Vitamin Water ad. Where are you?"

"I'm in the waiting room. Just wave and I'll try to find you."

"Okay see you in a bit," said Alec and the call ended.

I weaved through the seats and finally spotted Alec with his jet black hair waving to me. I nodded at him. Coming closer I realized that Izzy and Max were there too. I did not see that coming.

"Izzy! Max! Hey bud, you came!"

Max laughed as I took the seat between him and Alec, "I wouldn't miss this even if all the manga characters came to life and wanted to meet me!"

"Whoa, that's pretty serious, little man."

"Yep, but I also came to see Clary."

Before I could reply Alec leaned next to me, "I take that things between you and Clary have smoothed over?"

Raising my eyebrows, I agreed, "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I saw you talking to her on my way in, what were you saying?"

"Same thing you would tell me before every meet," I said. I didn't need to explain further.

"Got it." And right on cue a man in the loudspeaker began to talk. The races were about to start.

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"The first two really have seemed to rile the US, up huh Brad?"

"That's right and if they enjoyed that I'm pretty sure this one is gonna be one heck of a treat-"

"Now why do you say that?" inquired another man with a microphone, his voice laced with a thick French accent.

"Oh come on, Phil, we've got Fray,"

"Oh yes? We have Dubois."

"Whoa-ho, this is getting pretty heated. No, Brad, I mean you're right, this IS gonna be one heck of a race. Some of the best swimmers from all around the world are gonna be in the this race and I can't help but say its gonna be neck to neck,"

"I'm going to have to agree, this one will be a doozy. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Aaaaand, cut. That was great guys, we'll be back on air in five minutes to introduce the race and then to film it," the cameraman filled them in and they left to get some more spicy footage on the event.

"Jesus, Jace, stop paying attention to them. They're announcers; its their job to make a huge deal out of everything!" Isabelle exclaimed.

"It is a huge deal!" I shot back. "Besides, I heard that guy say 'Fray' so sue me if I turned to listen."

"But remember, its still a qualifier, so Clary doesn't really have to sweat it all that much. The final is in two days and that's what she has to worry about," said Alec.

I narrowed my eyes at them. "Only a swimmer would know how she feels, okay, so stop acting like it's so easy to get past these qualifiers!"

"Jace! Calm down. I don't like it when you get mad. Besides, both you and me know that Clary's gonna win so shut up and watch-"

I looked at my little brother, surprised, "Did you just tell me to shut up?"

"No…?" he said, suddenly very interested in the Powerade poster. Max…

"And we're back ladies and gentlemen at the Junior Championships in Sydney, Australia."

"We were just discussing before how this race is going to be one of the most closest and intense races to watch and the pressure is on for the swimmers."

"No doubt, Brad, let's get to the race. We've got USA's pride, Clary Fray in lane five, French phenomenon, Claire Dubois in lane one, Hannah Simmons in lane two, Daiyu Sun in lane three, Liane Florez in lane four, Annaliese Allaman in lane six, Nima Jerold in lane seven and Ashley Bennet in lane eight."

"They take their positions on the board and BAM they're off to a great start. Already, Sun, Fray and Dubois are taking clear lead, steadily finishing off their first fifty. They're onto their second, the rest just now catching up. Would you look at that, Nima Jerold plowing ahead, cutting off Sun and sliding in level with Fray and Dubois, now onto their third fifty…Fray dropping back a little bit…getting tired? Not a good sign. Ladies and gentlemen we are on our last fifty…DUBOIS IS JUST GETTING RIGHT AHEAD, SUN COMPLETELY BEHIND JEROLD, AND THERE IS FRAY POPPING OUT INTO LINE WITH DUBOIS LIKE NOTHING EVER HAPPENED AND THEY'RE DONE! Finishing with Jerold in third, Fray in second and Dubois in third. That was a great race, guys."

"Definitely, Fray was playing a little game there, but she did just fine. Dubois was great, showing strength, speed and endurance, phenomenal job. Jerold was a complete surprise, taking a turn for the better I see."

I slumped into my chair, filled with relief. I knew she was going to do fine, but having completed the race was much better.

"See?" said Max, "I told you!"

"You did, little man."

Clary P.O.V.

I hauled myself out of the water, breathing hard and feeling refreshed. I hadn't had a good race in a while and that was definitely a good one.

One qualifier down. I grabbed my towel, quickly drying my hair and slipping on sweats and a jacket on top of my suit. I headed in towards the waiting area to go into the locker room. I was surprised that there weren't any cameras attacking me, but I guess they were saving the excitement for the final.

My nerves had calmed down A LOT and I was feeling pretty good. I was shook out of my thoughts when I felt strong arms wrap around me. I immediately smiled, knowing who it was. Turning around, I was faced with a beaming Jace.

"Hi," I whispered.

"Hey," he whispered back, pulling me in for a kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tangled my hands in his hair. It felt good to touch something dry and so warm. His lips were so inviting that I could bring myself to pull away. But he did.

"We'll save the rest for later," he said winking and I blushed. "Anyway, you did great."

"I know," I said cockily. "But for now, goodbye," I teased and shut the girls locker room door in his face, laughing at the sound of him scowling.

Life was good.

For now.

**So whatcha think? Was it cheesy? Yes. Very cheesy? Probably, but it kinda had to be. I need some cheesy chapters here and there to keep the overall badassness of it going, lol. Anyway, mid-terms are over and updates will DEFINITELY be more frequent. I promise, like I've already got the next chapter typed and ready to go, so….um…. REVIEW!**


	28. To Clear Up For Readers

HI

A couple people pointed this out. I was being a dumbass and not proof reading properly and giving error riddled trash to you guys to read. SORRY 'BOUT THAT. Anywho, so to clear up, Dubois got first, Clary got second and Jerold got third.

New Month's Resolution: proof-read mah work mo'.

KAY BYE

~Amy


	29. No Shit, Red

**Hai guys! Here is the new chapter. Yep I updated pretty late on March 6****th****, but its March 6****th**** nonetheless. I realize for some places around the world, it might be the 7****th**** already. Oops. anyway, here is the chapter. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK THANKS KAY BYE!**

No Shit, Red

"It is finally here, can you believe it. It has been amazing to see what these young men and women have put in to accomplish something so huge."

"Certainly, certainly. I was skeptical in the beginning, but I have to say the U.S. has really….pulled…through, I mean look at Wayland, for example, Jesus Christ, that boy is Poseidon's son for sure!"

"I hear you, he most definitely has a bright future in front him. Winning first in every qualifier, in the semi and then taking multiple gold in the finals is something you don't see that often. Jonathan Wayland everyone, we expect to see him in the Olympics for sure."

"Now let's talk about the girls. Ladies and gentlemen after all these qualifiers and decisions, the women's 200 freestyle final race is here. I want to talk about the starlets we are most focused on, Dubois, Fray and Jerold. Dubois has been showing excellent competition readiness, I mean, she's fast, she's strong, and she is relentless. France has kicked up their game for sure."

"Yes, but c'mon man, Fray is no less-"

"I hate to say this, but I am concerned whether or not the women's US team will be bringing home gold this year. Fray IS a new addition to this specific event and competition so we don't know if she can really pull through. Second in qualifiers and third in semi, may just be a sign of lack of skill compared to the other women."

"Dubois and Jerold however, have very close chances. They have been outshining the other repeatedly to the point where we can't really tell who's the better swimmer!"

"JEROLD! Let's talk about her, I mean where did this burst of skill come from-"

Ugh. Couldn't they shut up for once? Well, I guess not. It IS their job. Sighing, I took of my headset and put it on the coffee table in front of me. I raked my hands through my hair, putting my head down.

Just…breathe. Just a bunch of American dudes in Armani suits who probably haven't even swam a fifty in their life.

I heard a ripping noise and turned to my left to see Jace holding tiny sugar packets and pouring the contents into the foam cups, some of it spilling over the edges. Way to cause a distraction.

"Jace," I said evenly, raising my eyebrows at the sugar piling up on the table.

"Hm?" He looked at me, his eyes wide, as if he just noticed what the hell was happening around him.

"Is pouring sugar into foam cups really that interesting?"

He let out a breath and reclined into the back cushion of the sofa. "Surprisingly…yes. There's something hypnotizing about the way it just…flows…into the cup, like a waterfall."

"Okay, Shakespeare, can we concentrate on me here?" I said, my hands flailing. I hated how I got so irritated before races but hey, I couldn't help it.

"See!" Jace said, bowing his head and point at me in an accusing manner.

"What?"

"I _told_ you not to listen to those dumb announcers, but you did anyway and now you're even more nervous than when you got here."

"Look, I heard what the announcers said and-"

"By the angel, I swear, do you hear yourself?"

"AND they were talking about how I was coming in second and third. What if my body is used to coming in nice and easy and I forget that is actually where I NEED to come in first? What if I became incapable of pushing myself?! Jace, I'm going to lose!"

"This is what happens when you don't listen to me. I think I made it clear not to listen to those. Damn. Announcers."

I narrowed my eyes at him and he registered that this may not be the best "I told you so" moment.

"Right, so, um. You're gonna do fine," he said simply.

I stared at him, dumbfounded. "That's it? Those are your glorious words of encouragement and motivation?"

"Look, nothing I say right now is going to make you less nervous and more confident and you know that. The only person that can help you is yourself. You can't start to doubt those endless hours in the pool now, because this is the moment it really matters. You either make it or break it."

I was really surprised of how he was treating me compared to my first day of qualifiers.

"Easy for you to say Mr. Gold Medal," I said under my breath. "Okay, you're right, I'm gonna head on out," I told him, hoisting my bag over my shoulder and putting my ear buds in. There was nothing playing, I just didn't want people to bother me. He nodded.

"Good luck, Clary, and I like my new nickname," he called after me.

I turned around, a confused look on my face.

"Mr. Gold Medal. It suits me." Ass, I thought smiling, as I headed out to greet the faces of hundreds of eager fans.

Taking a deep breath, I walked out into the stadium and the U.S., once again, stood up, erupting in cheers. I smiled and responded with a small wave going to my bench. To my surprise, all my teammates were there along with coach.

"Hey guys," I breathed and they all turned around to face me. Their faces lighted up as soon as they saw me and I was mobbed. They all started encouraging me and praising me that I couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright, alright, give our winner some space."

I frowned. "Coach, I haven't won yet."

"Yeah, but you will," he said confidently.

As soon as he said that, the butterflies in my stomach returned. All these high expectations and confidence in me were making me all the more nervous. This time, I actually turned some music on my ipod and began me pre-race routine.

Clear your head. Focus. Win. Win. Win.

"Hehumary?" I heard a soft noise in stark contrast with the song playing on my ipod and looked up. The smiling face of Nima Jerold greeted me.

"Sorry?"

"Um, hi Clary," she said sheepishly.

"Oh hey Nima, what's up?"

"I, uh, just wanted to wish you luck on the race. I really admire your talent and hard work. I've, uh, haha, read a lot about you, you know, coaches make me do my research, you know? You're one of our biggest threats." Wow. That's nice to hear.

I laughed, "Well thanks Nima, good luck to you to. You haven't turned out too bad yourself. Surprisingly kick-ass."

She laughed with me. "Alright then, may the best swimmer win."

"Amen," I said smiling and she went to go talk to Claire Dubois. That was awfully kind of her. I was a threat, huh? Glancing back at Nima, I felt annoyed by Claire's reaction to her sportsmanship.

Her nose was crunched up and her eyes looked very uninviting. Bitch. Thos French girls think they're all that. Okay, maybe not all of them, some of them are actually super nice. It just her that made me mad. Bitch.

As soon as my muscles were all loosened up, Coach came to me. "How're you holding up?"

"Um, pretty good."

"Confident?"

"Somewhat."

"No no no no no, that's not going to work."

"What?"

"Have you seen Dubois? She's intimidating as fu-" I raised my eyebrows. "-dge. Look at you, correcting your coach."

"Well, ya needed it."

"Anyway, that's part of the reason she's so ahead. She scares the crap out of the other girls, lowering their confidence and causing them to perform poorly. I wanna show you her final meet of the National France Competition." He pulled out his phone.

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"There it is!"

"Oooooooh! Is that even physically possible?" I cringed at Coach's phone screen.

"Oh yeah," he laughed. "She managed to pull it off."

"Yep," I laughed with him.

"So you see now, she is no better than you. You are pretty kick-ass and that's all that matters. You go out there and shine. I'm not going to put any last minute tips in you; you have learned all there is to know. Your road to fame starts here, kiddo. Make me proud."

"You got it, Coach."

And after that, everything was a blur the speed of Flash.

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"SPE-ECH, SPE-ECH, SPE-ECH!"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!" I yelled over the huge crowd of U.S.A. swimmers. My cup of apple cider sloshed in my hands, but I didn't really care. There was no alcohol in any of the drinks, but we were all having a pretty good time pretending to be drunk.

I grabbed a stalk of celery from the salad dish and stood up on the coffee table in Jace's room.

"First of all, I wanna say, that I have finally been united with the love of my life," I glanced at Jace's surprised (and smiling) face. Everyone realized who I was looking at and a collective "aww" went through the crowd.

"Oh no no," I said laughing, "not him…this!" With dramatic exaggeration, I pulled out my medal from under my jacket and kissed it. Staring at it, I continued, "I love you, more than anything in the world. I have waited all my life to be with you and now it finally happened! Take that French BITCH!"

The room went silent for two seconds, but then erupted in cheers. "YEAH!"

"THIS IS THE USA BITCHESSSSS! NO ONE MESSES WITH US!" I yelled into the celery stalk.

"YEAHHHHHH!"

"You go girl!"

"WOO!"

"Also," I continued, "I would like to thank the best teammates I could ever ask for and the hottest boys for keeping us girls motivated…and I would like to thank those boys' parents for such…great…genes…give it up everyone for the boys of Scarlen High!"

Again, the crowd burst into cheers and all the guys had smug looks on their faces. I took a quick glance at the coaches who were shaking their heads in disapproval, but laughing nonetheless.

"And by the looks of it, it seems as though America will by sweeping the gold medals clean, WHADDYA SAY?"

"Hallelujah!" said some of the boys, waving their hands and bowing their heads.

Huge smiles were plastered on everyone's faces and my body was still pumping with adrenaline. I couldn't believe it. I. Had. Won.

I'd done it.

My hand slamming against the wall, seeing my name first on the screen, the faces of countless Americans, my teammates rushing to congratulate me, the weight of the medal against my chest, my uncontrollable heart beat, the surge of accomplishment. I will remember these feelings forever.

"Jace! Jace!" I stage-whispered.

Some quiet "ooooo's" were heard in the back of the room.

"Wha?," he asked. The look of "what the hell is this crazy girl going to do next" was clear on his face and I couldn't stop giggling.

"Do you have your medal on you?"

"No, Clary, I don't carry my medal around with me."

"Aw. Well get up here."

"What?" I leaned from the table and grabbed his hand, dragging him onto the table with me.

"Ladies and gents, another accomplished swimmer, winner of not one, not two, but THREE gold medals, give it up for JACE WAYLAND!"

There were hoots and cheers in the crowd and I decided that this was clearly one of the best days of my life.

I couldn't keep my eyes off the medal, something I had worked so hard for. The gleaming gold captivated me and it was unreal to actually feel the cool metal in my hand.

The party continued for the rest of the night with random bursts of singing, dramatic speeches, charades, and flirting. LOTS and lots of flirting.

I weaved my way through the crowd and opened the door to Jace's room, the only relatively quiet place and placed my medal on his dresser. I heard the door open again and met Jace holding two water bottles in his hands.

"You, my lady," he said, handing me a bottle, "need one of these."

I laughed, "Thanks."

We stood there in silence admiring my achievement.

"Jace."

"Hm?"

"I did it, didn't I?"

"No shit, Red."


	30. Quite the Catch

Quite the Catch

It was finally over. The pressure was off my shoulders. Well, for now, at least. I still had my whole career in front of me, but for now, I just wanted to celebrate.

The first day of school after the competition was greeted with huge banners hanging everywhere, confetti and waves of congratulations from all around. All in all, it was pretty sweet.

The teachers, however, didn't cut us any slack.

"I hope you all have been working on your theme essay. Remember, it should be turned in by Friday," my English teacher called after us as we exited the classroom. I lagged behind, hoping to catch a few moments with her to maybe change her mind. Before I could get any words out, "one day Clary, that's all you get. You know the rules. Monday, latest."

I nodded, "Good enough for me." Well there go my weekend plans. Mentally adding up my increasingly large workload, I was the last to exit the classroom, running into the one and only, .

"God, you're slow. Teacher's pet."

"Good to see you too, sunshine," I retorted.

"Hey, why are you talking like that? I talk like that. Don't talk like that."

"It's called freedom of speech. I think you've heard of it."

"Freedom, my lady, is overrated." Jace adjusted his backpack strap, trying to avoid the fact that he was spewing nonsense.

Deciding that he and I were on the terms in which we could say anything to each other, I confronted him. "What? That doesn't even make any sense."

"I always make sense. Anyway, got plans this weekend?" Abrupt change of subject. Wayland was getting sloppy. It took me a minute, being consumed in picking out the little mistakes in Jace's behavior, that he was attempting to ask me out. Was he sick?

Trying to be nonchalant, I said,"Yeah, actually, I've got a date." With my English essay.

There was a hitch in Jace's stride. Score. A look of alarm was reflected on his face. Trying to be as subtle as possible, and failing, he asked me, "So what did _you _take away from our conversation in my room after you sobered up from Kaelie's magic powder?"

I choked on my water on hearing the term "magic powder" and had to have Jace whack my back to ease the fit of coughing. After I was done, he stood there, staring at me.

Trying not to get distracted by his perfectly tousled blonde locks, breath-taking amber eyes and flawless features, (a sharp jaw line is any girl's weakness) I kept up my act. "What?"

"I'm expecting an answer." And he was, judging by the way he stood in my path.

"Well, can you wait fifty minutes? I'm gonna be late for Spanish."

"I'm not moving until I get an answer," he said, shrugging. I knew there was no point in trying to get past him, considering he was made of steel.

I glared at him but his expression remained neutral. "Fine," I relented, but my act was still going. "I like you and you like me. But that doesn't mean we can't see other people, right?"

I quickly kissed his cheek and shrugged past him, a bounce in my step. "I'll see you during lunch, okay?" I called, turning around before I burst out laughing upon seeing his shocked face.

If he could make me cry for a week, leaving him in agony for two hours was the least I could do.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000

I was in the middle of conjugating a million verbs into the imperfect tense, when a certain blonde popped up in my classroom. Again. I was seeing a lot of him today.

He stood in the doorway, hoping to catch my teacher's attention whose nose was buried in a pile of tests. I stared incredulously at him, but he made no attempt to even look at me. After waiting for a good minute, he cleared his throat.

My Spanish teacher looked up and upon recognizing the golden boy, immediately took on a tired expression. "Mr. Wayland," he started, followed by a sigh. I had a feeling that this wasn't their first meeting.

However, as easy as a light switch, Jace turned on charming mode and began to speak in a voice of nectar. "So sorry to bother you Mr. Abrego, but Ms. Lavolas sent me to ask Clarissa Fray to meet her."

Apart from the fact that he said my full name, I couldn't help but wonder why the head tennis coach wanted to see me. Wait a minute. So a teacher wanted to "see me". In the middle of a class. For no good reason. Seems legit.

As soon as I stepped out of the class, I rounded on him. "Jace, if you wanna know the answer to what happened before, I was just messing with you, but you don't need to pull me out of class for that."

He looked at me, a smile playing on his lips. "One, I'm not dumb and you're a terrible liar, I didn't fall for the date thing. Two, I didn't pull you out to talk to you about that so let's go."

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" I asked, as I stumbled to catch up with him..

He gave me a prompt, "Nope," and did not utter a word after. After twisting around many halls and corridors, we finally stopped at the tennis courts.

"Jace wha-" Before I could finish, I felt two hands cover my eyes.

"Guess whoooo?" That voice was recognizable anywhere.

"MAIA!" We both broke out in massive fits of squeals and could wipe the massive grins off our faces. Where the hell was this girl; I thought she was dead!

"Where the HELL have you been!" Her bright eyes clouded with guilt.

"Oh my god, I cant tell you how many times I'm sorry. After the tournament started and coach got here, it was like goodbye world. They took my phone and it was like WORK WORK WORK, but still, I am so, so, so, so, so sorry."

I couldn't believe it. She was here. She was actually here. "I…I can't believe it!" I really didn't know what to say.

"I know! I'm done! Annnnnd, I won!" She quickly unzipped her backpack and pulled out a golden trophy.

"Oh my god, congrats!" My thoughts were running all over the place. The swim victory, Maia coming, her victory. It was all happening really fast. But I guess I didn't mind.

"And don't worry, Jace got me all caught up on everything." She leaned closer to me and whispered, "I mean everything." I felt heat rise to my cheeks and glared at Jace, but he winked back.

"So when did you get here?"

"Like ten minutes ago. Jace came to pick me up from the airport, since I wanted to come directly to meet you first. God I cant believe we both won! I mean your gold medal and my trophy and eeeeee!" We stood there, chatting excitedly while Jace leaned against the wire fence, texting someone on his phone.

"Who are you-"

Just then Simon came running up to us. "Not too late to the party am I?" he grinned, while slightly panting.

Maia stared at him for a second. It hit me that she hadn't witnessed his transformation and I grinned. "Simon?"

He laughed, "That's me."

"Whoa, what happened? You're like, hot now. And what are you doing here?"

"As if I wasn't hot before? I'm on the track team." Ignoring his words, she slowly walked up to him, looking at him from every angle. Out of nowhere, she poked his stomach.

Her jaw dropped. "Never did I think I would live to see the day when Simon Lewis would have abs."

"What can I say? I'm a chick magnet." She laughed.

"You're still a nerd to me Simone." Simon scowled at his girly nickname and we both laughed.

"Well, if we are all done with the oh-so-happy reunion, can we get back to class now?" All three of us turned to glare at Jace. He raised his hands and backed away, "Alright, alright."

"Nice boyfriend you've got there," Maia muttered.

"Yep. He's quite the catch."

With my two best friends, a greek god as a boyfriend and a shiny medal sitting at home, I think I'm pretty content for now.

"And we're the three best friends that anyone could have," mimicked Jace in a high pitched voice.

I sighed. "Quoting The Hangover isn't going to make you anymore popular."

"Yeah, because I'm the most popular a person can be."

"Yeah for how long, pretty boy?"

"With number of locker pranks I've got, I can safely say, a long time."

As I said…for now.

**AAAANNND THAT'S A WRAP! Yep. The story is over. Shocker right? I felt like the last couple chapters were getting suckier and suckier and I realized that maybe I was turning into a crappy writer. (The last chapter was really rushed.) But then again, maybe I'm just running out of material. I've kind of exhausted the extent of this story and I realize that I can't really keep a strong plot going after the Clary/Jace reunion and the Sydney meet. So this was the last chapter. You can tell me if it sucked. I kind of know it did.**

**Instead of giving you guys worsening chapters, I decided it would be best if I ended it. Plus, I wasn't enjoying dragging the story out. **

**So I would like to give a couple final words.**

** .god. You guys. You guys are the best audience I could ask for. So much endless support, you have no idea how much it kept me going. The reviews would make my day and make me want to hop onto my computer and crank out another chapter. Honestly you guys are the best.**

**I really enjoyed writing this story. I finally wrote something that was appreciated and I now know what are my strengths and weaknesses. My writing can only get better from now on.**

**Feedback. Anything. Anything at all. Anything you felt that could be improved in the future or anything you liked, please let me know. Feel free to leave a review or PM me. I read .one. I would realllly appreciate it.**

**Overall its been a fantastic time. I've never shared my writing with anyone before and I love that I can just pop onto the computer and see a bunch of people telling me about my work and that I have a group of people who share the common love of the art of writing.**

**Will I be writing another fic? Absolutely. Finishing one story encouraged me to write another one even better than the first.**

**If enough people request it, I will post a chapter on the actual moment/scene when Clary won her medal.**

**I felt that towards the end, a lot of chapters were cheesy. Any tips on removing that would be great because I want to make sure that my next story isn't cheesy at all.**

**Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys so much for giving me hope and not letting me abandon my love for writing. I mean it.**

**Thank you.**

**~Amy**


	31. Boston

Hi Guys

Today a terrible thing happened in Boston. Two bombs went off near the finish line for the Boston Marathon. I live close to Massachusetts and have family who live in Boston so this hit me hard. It made me realize how important it is to stay close with whomever you love because you never know what can happen. But this tragedy also showed a lot about the nature of good people. Right after the explosions, instead of running away from the crime scene, it amazed of how many medical officials, runners and viewers rushed to help the wounded. People were right away ready to donate blood and immediate action was taken. Dozens of helpers arrived at the scene within a short period of time and started taking care of the people severely injured. Investigations are still under way and not a lot of information has been gathered on who did this and why. What we do know is that over 100 people were injured and at least 2 people have been identified as dead. People close to attacks are suffering from terrible, terrible casualties and my heart goes out to them, hoping they will be okay. A lot of messages all across Facebook, the news and other media sources have been addressing this and millions of people are praying for those affected in the attack. For anyone reading this with any association to the attack, remember that I love you and I will pray with all my heart that everything turns out okay. I read this from a message posted on facebook and would like to share it. Patton Oswalt was talking about his faith in humanity after these tragic events including 911. He said that whenever you witness violence, bigotry, intolerance or fear, just look it in the eye and think, "The good outnumber you and we always will." Apart from the people that actual caused this attack, the number of people who rushed to help is overwhelmingly amazing. Once again, my heart reaches out to those affected and I will pray for you.

Much love,

Amy


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